Challenge
by rexlover180
Summary: A series of one-shots based on a 30 Day OTP Challenge, all different AUs. Gilbert and Matthew appear to be destined to be together, no matter the situation. Please relax and enjoy!
1. Doll Face

Day 1 Challenge: Holding Hands

Title: "Doll Face"

Enjoy

* * *

Gilbert lost a bet. He thought Ludwig and Feliciano would be together in three weeks, while Francis and Antonio thought it would only be two. He lost. Good for Ludwig, bad for Gilbert. Now he was at the mercy of his friends, two thirds of the Bad Touch Trio. They were walking through the mall, Gilbert with his hands tucked securely in his pockets while Antonio walked in front of him and Francis behind him, to make sure he didn't try to run for it. Whenever the trio made a bet, they never said what would happen if someone lost, because then they wouldn't want to even go into the bet in the first place. The idea Gilbert had if he won involved streaking and rainbows, if that gives any indication.

Now, Gilbert just had to wait and wonder what the hell his friends came up with on their side of the bet. Neither of them were even trying to hold back wicked grins as they walked through the mall. People brushed past them, some of them knowing the trio from school and either admiring as they walked by, or running away as fast as possible. That was how you could tell the difference between the ones that actually knew them and the ones that got too close. The Trio didn't exactly have many friends outside of their small group.

Finally, they stopped in front of a rather large store. Gilbert had seen it many times before and made fun of the poor suckers that wasted their time and money on something so stupid. Above the entrance, in bright, green neon, was the word "Dolls." Gilbert bit back a groan as they walked into the store. It could be worse, he reminded himself. Antonio went ahead to talk to the man behind the desk while Francis stood next to him. This was the place where people desperate enough for a date went.

Dolls lined the walls around them, all of them with their eyes closed, as if they were sleeping. Gilbert knew none of them were alive, but they all had artificial intelligence. They were there to give the customer as much satisfaction as possible. Life-sized, fake people for the most desperate people that couldn't even land a date. Gilbert was attractive, he wasn't going to lie, all three of the Bad Touch Trio were attractive, he could get himself a date if he really tried.

"So this is what you two came up with?" Gilbert scoffed with a smirk. "How un-awesome."

"Just wait," Francis hummed happily with a smile on his face. He admired the dolls as well, looking far too long at the boobs on some of the girl dolls. Gilbert rolled his eyes and slouched against the wall while he waited for Antonio to stop talking to the manager or whoever the hell was behind that desk. Gilbert didn't really care. The faster he could get this stupid bet thing over with, the better.

Finally, Antonio and the person behind the desk walked over through the dolls, talking to each other idly. The one they stopped in front of, however, made Gilbert's blood run cold.

"No," Gilbert muttered, standing up straight while Francis chuckled behind him. "No fucking way, man. You can't do that to me."

"You lost your bet, mon ami," Francis hummed happily.

Gilbert groaned, throwing his head back dramatically just as a few, giggling girls with a little too much weight walked into the store. He had made the mistake a little while ago of coming out to his best friends. He was gay, or bisexual, or whatever the hell. All that mattered was that he found certain guys attractive. Sure, his friends were supportive while Gilbert was freaking out about it. Now that he'd come to terms with it, however, that meant that they had free reign to mess with him for it. The doll Antonio had chosen was, in fact, a male.

"Fuck both of you," Gilbert glared at him while Antonio beckoned him over. Gilbert grumbled under his breath as he joined his friend and the employee. He was sure that people at this store were trained to not make fun of anyone they saw, since this was a store for the insecure and the desperate. Now Gilbert looked insecure and desperate to everyone in this fucking store.

"This is one of our best sellers," the man explained to both of them while Gilbert looked at the doll. He was cute, that much he would give him. Gilbert didn't even know what his type of boy was, but he had no doubt that Antonio and Francis could come together to figure out his type in a matter of minutes. He had kind of long, wavy blonde hair and had a soft, boyish face. He was wearing normal clothing, thank God. A large, red sweatshirt and jeans. "A lot of people like his shy demeanor and small chivalrous acts."

"Yeah, yeah, cut to the chase," Gilbert sighed, arms crossed over his chest. Antonio laughed beside him while the employee messed with a few controls on the stand the doll was standing against. After a few seconds, the doll opened his eyes, blinking only a few times, before focusing on Gilbert, who stood right in front of him. Gilbert was a little shocked at the _gorgeous_ indigo eyes that he saw in front of him, but made sure he didn't say anything to give anything away to Antonio.

"Hello," the doll said quietly, obviously a little uncomfortable with the direct eye contact they were sharing. "My name is Matthew."

"Gilbert."

"It's good to meet you, Gilbert," Matthew smiled shyly. So this was what was popular with the desperate people, huh? It made a little sense, Gilbert figured. They wanted someone just as socially awkward as them, maybe even more so.

"Basic rules with the dolls," the employee said and Matthew didn't even seem to notice he was there. "No physical contact aside from hand holding and hugs. Sexual acts are forbidden at the risk of an additional fine and a ban from the store. Bear in mind this doll has been and will be at the hands of other customers and act accordingly."

"I get the gist of it," Gilbert sigh and Antonio snickered beside him.

"The allotted time you have paid for is an hour," the employee continued, glaring slightly at Gilbert, who glared right back at him. "The doll will give you a five minute warning. If the doll is not back at the store after the allotted time has passed, you will have an additional fine and be temporarily banned from the store. Questions or concerns should be addressed to-"

"Fuck this," Gilbert rolled his eyes and swiftly held onto Matthew's wrist before pulling him towards the entrance of the store.

"We paid good money for this one, Gilbert!" Francis chimed after him and he and Antonio shared a good laugh while Gilbert rolled his eyes and continued to pull Matthew through the mall.

"Where are we going?" Matthew asked quietly, his voice hardly heard over the sound of the other shoppers at the mall.

"I don't know," Gilbert sighed. "Just away from that stupid store." He stopped when they were beside a small store. The crowd wasn't large there, most of them walking along the main hallway of the mall.

"What do you want to do?" Matthew asked with a very adorable smile. Gilbert had to admit that the guy was cute, but he was a doll, not even human. He was preprogrammed to make people want to go out with him.

"Cut the generic shit with me," Gilbert sighed. "I'm supposed to rate you or whatever the hell after I'm done and if you're just going to say something to please me or something you're already programmed to say, I'll give you a low rating." Gilbert inwardly groaned at himself. That wasn't even much of a threat, anyway.

"You're…different from the others," Matthew said and Gilbert raised an eyebrow. That was definitely something he didn't expect.

"Aren't you not supposed to remember other people?" Gilbert asked. He didn't know much about these dolls, since he didn't pay much attention, but he'd heard that they were programmed to only think on that one date, the memories of other ones would be wiped out as soon as they were over.

"Yes," Matthew nodded carefully. "I'm…different from other dolls. The only reason I know that is because one person hired two at once. The other one was a girl. That man broke the rules, but the girl didn't seem to care. The man liked me better because I fought back."

"Interesting," Gilbert mused, looking at him carefully. He tried to ignore the shiver that went down his spine at the idea that someone broke the rules with this doll. He didn't even know what rules that guy broke, but it didn't seem like it could have been anything good. "Let's get some food or something."

"I can't eat," Matthew said.

"Will it do something bad to whatever's inside you?" Gilbert asked.

"I don't think so," Matthew shook his head. "One girl got carried away and forced me to drink a shake with her. Nothing bad happened."

"I won't force you to do anything, don't worry," Gilbert smirked. "But I'm starving, so if you wouldn't mind going with me…"

"I don't mind at all," Matthew shook his head. Gilbert let out a small sigh, realizing that was probably a pre-programmed thing inside of him. He couldn't exactly deny anything except, apparently, something breaking the rules. Gilbert swiped Matthew's hand in his own, deciding to go ahead and go through with the date without breaking any of the rules. He'd been on dates before and hand holding was something normally done.

People in the mall went through their business as usual, a lot of them not even knowing that Matthew wasn't actually a human or alive. A few of them recognized the doll and gave Gilbert an understanding nod, apparently thinking he was socially awkward and needed to pay for a date with a virtual personality. Gilbert scoffed.

"Do you not like the idea of this service?" Matthew asked carefully.

"I just think it's stupid that people are desperate enough to need dolls," Gilbert sighed. "I mean, originally, if you needed to pay for a date, you got a prostitute, but now they have dolls to do that work. I'm sure it's only a matter of time, really, until stores like yours are made without the rules."

"Why are you here if you do not think you're desperate?" Matthew asked and Gilbert quirked an eyebrow.

"I never said I didn't think I was desperate," Gilbert smiled slightly, holding onto the hand just a little tighter. He was starting to like this doll.

"Your demeanor tells me that you're too self-confident to admit to anything like that, even if you were that desperate," Matthew smiled.

"Okay, I lost a bet with my friends and that's the only reason I'm here," Gilbert said proudly. He wanted to cross his arms proudly over his chest, but that would involve letting go of Matthew's hand. And he really didn't want to do that. "I'm not desperate, never will be. If I wanted a date, I could easily get one."

"I'm programmed to read people to find out what it is that they want from me," Matthew explained. "I can tell when a person is lying and there was a small part of what you just said that was a lie."

"Whatever," Gilbert muttered. "Tell me something you like."

"Changing the subject, then," Matthew giggled and Gilbert stopped himself from smiling at how adorable it both looked and sounded. "I like hockey. There was one customer that had me watch hockey with him and I really liked that."

"Awesome," Gilbert smirked. And, before he could stop himself, "I like cute things. I have this little pet bird, who's adorable. And this adorable Italian kid that likes my brother, I like him, too."

"Do you like me?" Matthew asked.

"Of course, your fucking adorable." The words spilled out of his mouth before he could stop himself. He stopped in the middle of the hallway, Matthew stopping with him. Angry shoppers shoved into them as they past while Gilbert's face quickly heated up. "I…uh, I didn't really…"

"Thank you," Matthew smiled. "That was a nice compliment. I like you, too."

"Is that just pre-programmed?" Gilbert asked curiously.

"Actually, in order to prevent certain customers from getting too attached, I'm not even supposed to say things like that," Matthew mused.

"Looks like you break rules, too, huh?" Gilbert smiled.

* * *

Gilbert cackled from his seat at the food court, half eaten pizza forgotten while he talked with Matthew. The doll was actually really hilarious when he wanted to be. His voice was still soft and he definitely still seemed shy, but that was a personality feature that Gilbert supposed Matthew would never get rid of. Gilbert refused to let go of Matthew's hand, holding onto it over the table as they continued to talk.

"I should tell you," Matthew muttered quickly. "You were talking during the five minute warning and I didn't want to interrupt you."

"Wait, how much time does that leave?" Gilbert asked. Matthew just smiled before he closed his eyes and fell limp in the chair. "Matthew!" Gilbert stood up from where he sat, Matthew's hand limply falling out of his. "Dammit…" Gilbert muttered and quickly walked over to him. If the time was up, that meant he'd probably get fined or something, so he should head back. He quickly picked him up and started walking. Luckily, it wasn't a far walk to the doll store.

He got a few odd looks as he passed people by, but he paid them no mind as he continued on. Just in front of the store, he ran into Francis and Antonio, who were previously sitting down, leaning against the wall of the store. Upon seeing him, however, they immediately stood up.

"Did you have a little too good of a time?" Francis chuckled.

"What were you two doing for so long? I figured you would have been back long ago to return him," Antonio gave a knowing smirk.

"Shut the hell up," Gilbert sighed, looking down at Matthew. He looked like he was sleeping, but the face was too perfect. It was obvious that he was a machine like this, shut down until the next time he would be used by someone else. Maybe intent on breaking the rules. Gilbert gritted his teeth as he entered the store.

"We were just about to send someone after you." The same employee was still there and Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"Relax, I just lost track of time," Gilbert rolled his eyes and quickly moved to return Matthew to his stand where he was just an hour before. He stood perfectly still on it.

"Since you returned him and it was only a few minutes, you will not be fined this time," the employee said, typing on some computer.

"What do you mean this time?" Gilbert scoffed as a girl with a too obvious tan came in and immediately ran over to Matthew, apparently excited for their next date. She gushed over how adorable he was.

"I will see you next time you come for a date," the man hummed and moved over to talk to the girl, obviously a favored customer.

"Fuck both of you," Gilbert growled, leaving the store and glaring at his two friends. "I lose the bet so you basically make me come out to the whole fucking mall?"

"But did you have fun?" Antonio asked.

Gilbert sighed.

"Oh, he had fun," Francis chuckled. "And he'll be coming back. I know it."

"Shut the hell up," Gilbert rolled his eyes while Francis wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"You don't deny it," Francis hummed, looking at him closely. "How interesting."

"Fuck off," Gilbert muttered and didn't deny his friends when they went off to buy some ice cream. Gilbert had to force himself to not look back at the store. He didn't want to chance watching Matthew walk around with that chick.

* * *

There were 10 other dates. 10 other people. Matthew didn't like them as much as he had liked Gilbert. He was very sad when he had blacked out for just a second, but he was met with that girl, Ashley, instead of Gilbert. But he continued his job like he was programmed. He went through the motions, putting on that smile. Ashley tried on clothes for an hour and Matthew said she looked great in everything. Martin talked to him for a while about how he and his wife were getting a divorce and he didn't know what to do, so Matthew gave him words of encouragement. Lucy and Meg fought over him and he assured them that they were equally beautiful. So on and so forth. They all blurred together.

Matthew admitted to himself that Gilbert wouldn't be coming back. He didn't like the idea of the doll store in the first place. But holding someone else's hand just didn't feel right. Talking to them as he was programmed was forced. He would prefer to be more like himself, as much as the programming would allow him. Gilbert let him be like that.

George broke the rules. And Tina after him. They were both fined and banned because of video proof. Matthew took video of every date so that they could make sure no one broke rules. But they didn't do anything to the dolls after someone broke rules. They cleaned them up, if that was necessary, but Matthew was never awake for that.

Finally, Matthew opened his eyes and was met with a smiling albino.

"Hello," Matthew said, his programming taking over for him while he fought not to do anything stupid in front of the employee beside them. "My name is Matthew."

"Gilbert," the albino smirked and Matthew smiled. Gilbert held out a hand for him. "What do you say, doll face? Wanna go on another date with me?"

* * *

**That's right! I'm doing a 30 day challenge! I'm doin' it and I'm gonna rock it! Basically, I did this because I realized it's becoming impossible for me to come up with a one-shot, and so I gave myself a challenge to get back into the one-shot groove. All of them have been planned out for a while, because I decided to do this while writing two stories and once. It took roughly three hours, but I was able to plan all 30 days. And I've decided to start this one Matthew's birthday because I've skipped his in favor of Alfred's two years in a row now and so I owe him this much.**

**Anyway, this was the first day and I've wanted to do this AU for quite some time and I'm very happy with how it turned out. Especially at the end! Gilbert's such a dork! An adorable as all hell dork. You can think about what happened after this all you want. Maybe Gilbert found some way to spring him out of the store to have him for himself, maybe he threatened anyone else that tried to take Matthew out on a date, who knows.**

**I plan on all of these being interesting and a few of them took so long for me to come up with an interesting AU for (like cuddling, making out, and genderbent, to name a few) and I hope they're enjoyable to all of you!**

**Tomorrow's challenge is Cuddling Somewhere. It's titled "Minefield." See you then!**

**I do not and never will own Hetalia. Not mine. Never mine.**


	2. Minefield

Day 2 Challenge: Cuddling Somewhere

Title: "Minefield"

_A/N: Italics are German_

Enjoy

* * *

The small camp was busy. A battle had been won and not very many men had been lost. The camp was alive with chatter that signified a celebration. They indulged on the little rations they could spare. Gilbert was happy, laughing and joking with his friends and fellow soldiers, allowing his ragged hair to show proudly, which he could rarely do in the middle of battle. Gilbert stretched happily, basking in the quickly falling sun.

"_You're turn to watch the prisoner_," another soldier laughed, walking up to Gilbert. Immediately, his good mood came down as he groaned, tilting his head back to exaggerate the gesture.

"_Why me?_" Gilbert grumbled. "_I was just about to go harass my brother_."

"_Weird that the commanding officer decided to give you the whole night to look after him after you nearly broke his gun pulling a prank_," the soldier smirked, patting Gilbert's back. "_Have fun_."

"Whatever," Gilbert sighed, knowing full well that he didn't exactly have a lot of room to complain. After all, it was only because of his brother that he hadn't been…shipped off… He quickly got up, said goodbye to his friends, and stalked off to where they were keeping the prisoner.

They managed to keep one prisoner from the Americans during the fight. That was all they really needed, so the rest were killed. They interrogated him, since he was fairly high ranking, and he talked. They were keeping him alive for that night as a reward. Gilbert had never really seen him, just a glance here and there as he walked around the camp, and the American seemed perfectly miserable. Now it had to be Gilbert's problem. The soldier watching Matthew was poised with a pistol and Gilbert rolled his eyes before flashing him his own pistol. The soldier left and Gilbert glanced down at the prisoner in front of him. They were in front of a tent and the American was handcuffed to one of the polls used to keep it up. He was scraped up pretty bad, along with many, many bruises and quite a number of missing finger nails. Gilbert didn't even flinch at it.

"I'm not American," the prisoner mumbled in English and Gilbert blinked at him. The prisoner…talked. His voice was gravelly and it obviously pained him, but he was talking. Gilbert chose not to say anything, simply glancing at the top of the prisoner's head. He noticed that he could see the scalp where some of the hair was missing. "I've been trying to…to tell them…No one here speaks English. You probably don't speak English."

"You sure are talking a lot for someone who was just tortured," Gilbert sighed. He'd been practicing English for a while and thought he was pretty damn awesome at it, so he figured he'd give it a spin on someone who spoke English natively.

The prisoner looked up at him blearily, indigo eyes shimmering slightly with tears and his lips cracked and dry. He looked definitely confused, shadows outlining his tired eyes as the sun finally fell under the horizon.

"I thought you weren't supposed to…talk…to me," the prisoner mumbled.

"If you're not American, what are you?" Gilbert asked. "Canadian?"

"Yeah," the prisoner nodded slowly, wincing. "You look…different…"

"I know," Gilbert muttered. Under a normal situation, he would flaunt about how awesome his looks were. Then again, this wasn't exactly a normal situation. "You're going to die tomorrow. Figured since no one else spoke English to you, you should know."

"Where did you learn English?" the prisoner asked.

"Been learning for years," Gilbert muttered. "Don't get to practice a lot."

"I'm glad I got to say goodbye to Alfred," the prisoner sighed to himself.

"Don't get nostalgic," Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"Why are you watching me?" the prisoner asked. "Why are you waiting to kill me? Just…shoot me now so you can get back to talking to your friends about how you'll follow Hitler to your deaths."

"Sue me for following a strong leader," Gilbert scoffed.

"Why didn't you kill me?" the prisoner muttered. "The information wasn't that important…If you just don't want to watch me die, send me to a camp."

"You sound like an American," Gilbert stated. "Shut the hell up. I can't wait to see you die tomorrow."

The prisoner sighed and nodded before looking back down at the ground. They lapsed into a silence for a while. The camp fell into a quiet as soldiers went to sleep in their respective tents. There were the people staying up to watch out for surprise attacks, naturally, and everyone slept next to their best gun, but they were still happy and content with the fact that they had won. Gilbert eventually sat down on the ground, tired of standing, and stared up at the semi-clear sky. He still hadn't pulled out his pistol.

"I'm sorry," the prisoner mumbled and Gilbert blinked. He certainly wasn't expecting that from the person who had just been tortured and forced to spill information and told he would die the next day. "I should have…"

"I don't care," Gilbert scoffed.

"Of course you don't," the prisoner sighed. "What's your name?" A sudden question. Gilbert stared at the prisoner in wonder, thinking about just how much guts this kid had to have. He was in the camp of the enemy, thoroughly tortured to the point where it didn't even look like he could walk properly, and he would be dead in a few hours. Yet, he was asking for Gilbert's name. He was wasting his energy to have small talk.

"Beilschmidt," Gilbert said.

"Williams."

"Why are you talking?" Gilbert asked. "Why are you…wasting energy?"

"What is there to waste if I'm dying in a few hours anyway?" Williams asked. "There's no way for me to escape, anyway. There's no silver lining and no hero to help me." He laughed dryly. "Alfred was a liar when he said he'd be my hero if I needed him."

"What's your religion?" Gilbert asked. He didn't know why he was getting so involved with the prisoner. He guessed he figured he wanted to know to see if the guy had a right idea in mind, if he was actually going to the right place.

"I had one," Williams muttered. "Then I got here."

"Torture makes you forget God?" Gilbert snorted.

Williams shook his head. "War does. I came with the Canadian troops to back up the Americans. I shot down several human beings and saw hundreds…thousands die around me. There's no God if He allows that to happen."

"Maybe He just needs it to happen for a better design," Gilbert offered half-heartedly.

"You don't even believe that…" Williams chuckled humorlessly. He coughed and it made a horrid sound. Gilbert winced as Williams continued to cough, spitting blood on the dirt in front of him.

Gilbert sighed and turned to face the prisoner. Williams blinked up at him blearily. It was obvious that he needed glasses by the way his eyes were looking at him. There was a horrible gash on his eyebrow Gilbert hadn't noticed before and could barely see in the dark. He had no idea why he was doing this. To make the prisoner feel better? To make himself feel better? Maybe he was just crazy…

"To be honest, I was almost shipped off to one of those camps," Gilbert said. "I'm not exactly a desirable with the way I look and the fact that my eyes are going. But mein bruder made me a desirable by getting me into the military."

"Why tell me this?" Williams asked carefully.

"I don't have a clue," Gilbert admitted. Suddenly, tears pooled around William's eyes and he let out a sob, staring at his own blood on the ground in front of him.

"I'm going to die…" Williams muttered and Gilbert sighed. He really wished he didn't get this job. Gilbert bit his lip and glanced around the camp. No one was up and around and, in any case, it would be hard for them to see this. Williams shuddered as he let out another sob and Gilbert shook his head.

Before he could stop himself, he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the prisoner. He carefully rested his chin on top of Williams' head and stayed there. Williams seemed surprised at first, but seemed to cling to the connection and sobbed even more. He struggled to move his arms, which were useless to him. He winced a few times, complaining about his ribs. He coughed blood onto Gilbert's shirt. But other than that, they were quiet, merely enjoying each other's presence. Williams needed someone and his torture was over. Gilbert wasn't about to just continue it. He deserved a moment of happiness before he died. If Williams was right, then this world was the end. Best be happy in the moments before his death, then.

"You're not undesirable," Williams muttered. "At least by my standards."

"Thanks," Gilbert sighed, pulling him a little closer. There wasn't much talking aside from that. After about an hour, Williams relaxed even more into him, apparently falling asleep in his arms. Gilbert simply continued to hold him, forcing himself to stay awake. It wouldn't be good at all if he was found cuddling in his sleep with this prisoner when they came to kill him. Williams moved a little in his sleep, obviously uncomfortable with a few broken bones and still bleeding. He muttered something in his sleep, but Gilbert couldn't understand because it was French.

The sun began to rise and Gilbert nearly tried to will it back down. He didn't want to disrupt this man's sleep. At least in his sleep, Williams didn't look like he was in pain or terrified. But it would have to end all too soon. Gilbert took a few deep breaths to steel himself for what he knew would only be a matter of time. Just a few hours ago, he would have been perfectly fine with letting Williams die. Without a second thought, he'd send him to his death. And after just some small talk, he'd grown attached. How weak was he?

Gilbert heard the voices coming towards them immediately and swiftly stood, abandoning Williams. The prisoner nearly toppled over, evidently used to resting his weight on Gilbert. Williams looked up towards Gilbert and his eyes widened in terror. Gilbert said nothing and turned to looking straight ahead.

"_No problems, I trust_?" the commander asked and Gilbert nodded obediently, refusing to allow himself to look at the tortured man next to him. "_Good. Get some rest before we leave._"

Gilbert nodded again and slowly walked away.

"No!" Williams screamed behind him. "Please! Don't!" Gilbert allowed himself to glance back. Williams was fighting as strong as he could against the strong military men with the commander that were holding him easily. He was free from the tent, and was forced to stand, which his body obviously couldn't handle very well. Their eyes met for a second, Williams pleading silently with him and Gilbert simply looked forward again. He couldn't get attached, that much he knew when he'd touched the prisoner and even beforehand.

"See ya in Hell," Gilbert mumbled under his breath as he continued on. The camp could hear the tortured man's screams, something they hadn't missed since he was actually tortured. The gunshot made Gilbert jump and he let out a shuddered breath, stopping dead in his tracks. He couldn't hear the screams anymore. He bit back tears that threatened to come to his eyes and balled his hands into fists so tight that it hurt.

"_Gilbert_," Ludwig, Gilbert's brother, found him through the slowly growing crowd of people. Gilbert figured he'd be worried about him since he had to be up all night, watching the prisoner…who didn't exactly need to be watched anymore. Ludwig got one look at Gilbert, however, and his train of thought changed. "_Are you alright? You look almost dead._"

"_I'm fine_," Gilbert lied simply, placing a hand on his slightly bigger brother's shoulder. "_Let's go win this war, eh_?" Ludwig gave him an odd look as Gilbert staggered to his own tent. If he could get one hour's rest before they started moving, that would be best. Little did Gilbert know, his nightmares were filled with Williams' face and the sound of his voice.

Or were they dreams?

* * *

**Welcome to our first sad ending of this challenge. And you thought cuddling would lead to a happy ending… Anyway, I've realized that I'm extremely prone to happy endings, which isn't exactly bad, but still, I need to exercise my sad endings a little bit, give them some space to roam around a bit. In any case, down to historical accuracy, I didn't try extremely hard here since I didn't think it was extremely important. I'm sure there were battles that the Germans won in World War II and they took prisoners and if they really didn't need them, I'm guessing they were just gotten rid of. Not all of them needed to go to the camps, I'm sure.**

**Anywho, please review.**

**I will see you tomorrow with the third challenge, Playing Video Games/Watching A Movie Together. Titled "Reality."**


	3. Reality

Day 3 Challenge: Gaming/Watching a Movie

Title: "Reality"

Enjoy

* * *

Matthew ran through the field as fast as he could, sword clung tight in his fist, racing to reach the monster through the flowers before the other person in his party. It was fairly high level and it was fast. It struck first and Matthew placed his shield firmly in front of him to block the hard attack before lunging forward and stabbing it with his large sword. It was already at half health and Matthew groaned, knowing just what would happen now that it was weak.

"Make room for the mighty hero!" Alfred cheered before running in and slashing at the beast with his broadsword. It disappeared shortly afterwards, the rewards showing up in Alfred's menu as he cheered happily, fists thrust in the air.

"Would it kill you to let me have the kill?" Matthew sighed, panting slightly from the run, though he knew he didn't exert himself at all.

"You're just jealous that I'm more awesome than you!" Alfred laughed happily. "Hey, it dropped some of that ore you've been looking for to make that new shield. You want it?"

"What do you want to trade, Alfred?" Matthew sighed. He made a mental note that the monster dropped it in order to come back later and get some more. He'd been trying to make a new shield that he'd seen on the game's site for a while now and was slowly gathering the materials to do it. He was so close now, too. He'd just gotten his smithing level up enough to make it.

"I'm your brother," Alfred put a hand on his chest. "Can I really not ever give you something just out of the kindness of my heart?"

"You've never done that to me," Matthew rolled his eyes.

"How about that fancy gem you picked up a few days ago?" Alfred asked. "That one worth a couple thousand gold pieces?"

"Fine," Matthew sighed and pulled up his menu to propose the trade. He was gonna kill Alfred back in the real world. He could find his hockey stick or something to do it. Alfred smirked triumphantly and Matthew sighed. The gold pieces weren't that important to Matthew, since he had quite a lot, considering how high of a level he had. It wasn't as high as Alfred's but Alfred did nothing but game all of the time. His grades in school were incredibly low as well, mostly because of this game.

"Hey, Mom's gonna kill me if she found out I snuck this game since I'm grounded," Alfred sighed. "You cool to play a little longer by yourself?"

"I'm not exactly helpless, Al," Matthew sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. Honestly, he was happy that Alfred was leaving. He could get plenty more of that slightly rare ore and maybe even make his shield by the end of the night. "I'm only 5 levels in combat behind you."

"Yeah, yeah," Alfred laughed, pulling out his menu again before hitting the log out button. He disappeared in front of Matthew and he let out a sigh of relief, spreading his arms wide over the now setting sun. He knew, in the real world, he still had about 5 hours before the sun went down and he would do his homework. In the world of Hetalia, however, it was only an hour before the moon came up and tougher monsters came out.

Matthew smirked when he saw another monster pop up a few feet away, tightening his grip on his sword and checking how much more his armor could handle before he would have to replace it with his back up. He started running towards he monster, that immediately reared itself for an attack upon seeing someone running towards it.

* * *

It was only three hours later when Matthew finally became overwhelmed. He had been pushing into the nearest forest to find more of that monster, he hadn't found enough ore yet and he had to find more by the time he finished, he just couldn't allow himself to stop just yet. Matthew gasped when the beast slammed into him, and his back-up armor broke, disappearing around him. Matthew cursed and attempted to protect himself with his shield, which broke shortly after.

Still, Matthew refused to back down from the beast, which was still at nearly full health. There was no way to back out of a battle like this and he would have to make it out alive to keep the ore he'd managed to collect. If he died there, he'd lose all of his items and that wouldn't be good at all.

The monster continued to bash at him while Matthew weakly attacked it with his sword. He was tired and his stamina was mostly depleted. He was totally screwed. His health was in the red before he knew what was happening and he braced himself for the last attack, the one that would leave him humiliated with his brother and without anything he needed. If only he'd died in a dungeon, when only some of his items would be lost, or in a town when he could retrieve all of his lost items. No, he just had to be stupid and die in a forest without any party members to help him out.

The heard the monster grunt before it squealed in pain. Matthew opened his eyes, which he hadn't even realized he was closing, and couldn't believe his eyes. Something was attacking the monster like crazy, so fast that Matthew could hardly keep up with it. From what he could tell, it was dressed almost completely in black, and that made it even harder for him to see it. Before long, the monster disappeared and the figure finally stopped moving, standing still for a moment, looking through the items it got.

"Your fucking crazy," the figure laughed and Matthew narrowed his eyes at him. He was wearing a hood from what Matthew could tell, but he swiftly turned around and Matthew was shocked. Even in the dark, his bright white hair shone where it stuck out underneath the hood and his red eyes shone happily. Matthew knew that the game sensed how you look and showed you as such in order to avoid people under false identities, but some people easily hacked that part of the system. But Matthew had never heard of a stealth player look like him before. People with more noticeable features usually went towards some other goal. "You nearly got yourself killed."

"I-I know," Matthew muttered and allowed himself to finally fall over, barely keeping his upper half on the ground. He was in so much pain, but he tried to remind himself that it wasn't real. He vaguely registered that he had gotten himself poisoned and watched his health meter slowly decline.

"Ah, shit," the player in front of him cursed before swiftly kneeling in front of him and pulling out a bottle of red liquid. He pressed it to Matthew's mouth and made him drink it, tilting his head back. Matthew easily swallowed it, feeling his health improve, but the poison was still there.

"Thank you," Matthew mumbled before quickly going through his items and finding a poison candy that he quickly ate to cure the poison.

"No problem," the player smiled at him. "What the hell are you doing so deep in these woods alone? Everyone knows you need a party to go this deep. Some of these monsters are leveled in the hundreds."

"Why are you so worried about me?" Matthew asked. His health wasn't even at halfway yet and so he opened another bottle that he eagerly drank from. If he wanted to get out of this damn place, he would need his health up as much as possible. "You don't even know me."

"I'm awesome, I naturally care about people," the player smirked. "The name's Jett Black, and you?"

"Connor Blake," Matthew answered. That was his character name, something that he had generated since he wasn't very good at coming up with things like that. Naturally, he would never use his real name. Alfred was stupid enough to use it, but Matthew was smarter than him. This guy was apparently smart enough to do that as well, since Jett Black seemed like a very poorly made up name.

"Let's get you back to town, how you doing on health?" Jett asked.

"I'm good," Matthew nodded. "You?"

"Fine," Jett smirked and started running. He was fast and hard to see in the darkness, but Matthew had good eyes and was able to follow him easily enough. They brushed past multiple monsters but did not engage, for which Matthew was grateful, having lost both of his sets of armor as well as his shield. He was lucky his sword had lasted as long as it did. "Try to keep up!" Jet laughed back to him and Matthew rolled his eyes while he continued, easily brushing past multiple trees until they finally appeared back in the meadow that Matthew had been in just a few hours earlier. It was breathtaking in the night, Matthew had never seen it that way before. He stood still, simply observing the beautiful meadow as a small wind brushed past them. He was only aware that Jett had said something after he'd finished it.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Matthew asked.

"What the hell were you doing grinding in the forest like that?" Jett laughed. "It's night, too, which means the monsters are even worse out here."

"It's stupid," Matthew sighed. "I should head back to town. Thanks for helping me back there, though. If I had lost my items, that would have been a completely lost cause."

"No way am I leaving you alone," Jett scoffed, following Matthew as he began walking to the town. He could already see the lights of it up ahead. "You're suicidal or something, I swear. You don't even have armor or a shield! Your ass is lucky that I was scouting around out there for some good monsters to hunt."

"I had armor, and back up armor, and a shield," Matthew sighed. "I just stayed out there for too long."

"So we're back to suicidal," Jett laughed. "I gotta keep an eye on you, Connor, otherwise you're really are gonna get yourself killed!"

"I'm level 56 in combat!" Matthew protested. "I can handle myself just fine!"

"I'm level 70!" Jett cackled and Matthew blinked. He already beat out his brother with something like that. "And I maxed out my stealth a few days ago! So I can be pretty much unbeatable if I feel like it!"

"You maxed out your stealth?" Matthew's eyes widened. "I've never heard of anyone who's maxed out anything."

"Hang out with my crowd, kid, and you'll met plenty of those kinds of people," Jett beamed at him. "Let's see, my brother maxed out his smithing, Elizaveta maxed out her combat, I'll be damned if I didn't have to get her out of a few tough situations when she was grinding. Feli and Lovi maxed out their cooking practically when the game came out, they couldn't get enough of it! Toni maxed out his long range combat while Franny maxed out healing."

"Wow," Matthew had no words. He knew that maxing out on certain things was possible, sure, but he'd never seen people dedicated enough to this game to do it. And he thought Alfred was obsessed…

"Aw, shit, I used their real names, I'm shit at remembering that kind of thing," Jett groaned. "Forget all of the names I just said."

"It's fine," Matthew laughed just as they stepped over the border of the town. They were greeted by a few players that were laughing and joking, some spending time at taverns to make battle plans or simply just talk. "I think I'll head to an inn for now, but if you really want me to meet all of those friends of yours, I'll be logging on again tomorrow."

"What time?" Jett asked. "Game time, since I have no idea what time zone you're in and I'll get a GM warning for even asking about it."

"About 5," Matthew laughed before quickly walking to the inn. He could easily afford it.

"See ya then, Birdie!" Jett laughed.

"My name's M…Connor," Matthew muttered.

"Yeah, I don't like that name," Jett smirked. "Go sleep up or whatever the hell it is you need."

"Whatever," Matthew rolled his eyes before opening the door.

* * *

"Jett," Ludwig growled, walking up to the albino. Matthew couldn't stop himself from giggling while Jett simply whistled, continuing on his merry way. It was rather funny, in the week that he'd been playing with Jett and his group, he'd managed to mess up everyone's names to the point that Matthew knew all of their names, despite their player names. All except for Jett. No one had managed to mess up his name yet. "I know it was you that managed to steal all of my money."

"You can do that?" Matthew asked in awe.

"If your level's high enough," Jett shrugged and Ludwig roughly held him back by his shoulder. Jett smirked happily, holding his hands up in surrender. "There could be plenty other people past level 90 with their stealth."

"Give me back my money," Ludwig stated and Jett groaned before handing him a pouch filled with gold pieces. "Thank you."

"Oh, Birdie, tell 'em the good news!" Jett said proudly, turning around to the rest of their party. Matthew joined them just a few days ago, when his mother had taken away Alfred's game due to his suffering grades.

"What's going on?" Elizaveta asked happily. Matthew smiled and adjusted his new shield that he'd gotten with the help of his new friends. It was way more impressive than the one he'd planned to make and all of his equipment was amazing. Being around all of them helped him improve his levels immensely, since they took so many risks and got through such high level bosses.

"I'm almost maxed out on my magic," Matthew couldn't stop himself from smiling. Now that he wasn't fighting with Alfred, who didn't really like magic, he had a chance to really use it. And this group was more than supportive, since they'd been hoping to have a good magic user on their team.

"That's fantastic!" Feliciano cheered.

"About damn time, you use it so much," Lovino smirked.

"Oi, Birdie, can I talk to you for a sec?" Jett asked. "In private."

"What do you plan to do?" Francis smirked seductively, wrapping an arm around his albino friend. "Have you finally taken up my offer to-"

"Fuck no," Jett slapped the hand off of him.

"But you haven't even told us about this," Antonio smiled. "You tell us about everything!"

"Shut up," Jett groaned, grabbing hold of Matthew's arm before pulling him away from the crowd of curious party members.

"What are you up to?" Matthew chuckled slightly as Jett pulled him behind a building and stared down at him with his bright red eyes. He didn't say anything, which was odd. "Jett, what's going on?"

"This is just a game, right?" Jett asked. "Nothing can make us really…hate each other or anything. Just a simple mistake in a game?"

"Sure," Matthew nodded numbly. "What's up?"

Jett bit his lip before swiftly leaning forward and pressing his own lips to Matthew. Despite this being virtual reality, Matthew felt a tingle run through him and he swiftly kissed back. Jett seemed a little surprised at that before he continued, continuing to kiss him.

"Gilbert," Jett muttered as they pulled away, panting slightly. "That's my actual name."

"Matthew," Matthew muttered breathlessly.

"Damn I wish I could actually meet you, but I doubt you're German," Gilbert sighed.

"I wasn't expecting that, really," Matthew chuckled. "You're German?"

"More like Prussian, but I'd rather not touch on that," Gilbert smirked. "Guess I was nervous for nothing, huh?"

"You? Nervous?" Matthew smirked, giving him a swift peck on the lips. "Never. I don't believe it."

"Shut up," Gilbert muttered. "How much you wanna bet we can max out your magic tonight?"

"Safe bet," Matthew shrugged. "100 gold pieces."

"500," Gilbert cackled. "I'll bet that on two hours in that cave we're going to."

"600 on one hour," Matthew smirked. "I'm the only one here that really knows my magic level."

"You're on," Gilbert smirked. "If I win, I'm going to your room tonight in that inn."

"And if I win, I'm going to your room," Matthew smiled.

"Fair deal," Gilbert nodded. "Let's get to fighting."

* * *

**I saw gaming and immediately went to virtual reality because that's so awesome! Any of the other 30 day challenges I've read have usually done a movie, which is totally lame because gaming's awesome. I wish I had time to game, but I'm too busy writing and schooling to do any of that shit. I'm sure I'd be awesome if I had more time…Anyway, enough of me. Those two are such cuties and, yes, I came up with those names myself. Jett Black's been a name in my head for a while, but only as a fake name, since it's so…fake. Anywho, I like to think of the world I created a little like Sword Art Online, just with magic because magic's awesome and cool in every way.**

**Anyway, enough of my drabble, please review!**

**I'll see you for tomorrow's challenge, On a Date. It shall be titled "Candlelight."**


	4. Candlelight

Day 4 Challenge: On a Date

Title: "Candlelight"

Enjoy!

* * *

Prussia smirked happily at his work, nodding proudly. The table was set perfectly, according to the instructions he found on the internet. The forks and knives were set on either side of the plates and the table cloth didn't even have a speck on it. He'd even learned how to fold the napkins into little swans, thanks to YouTube. It was perfectly awesome.

So why was he so nervous? Dammit, he shouldn't be nervous! Prussia groaned, pacing as he ran a hand through his hair. Gilbird cheeped happily, flying around the table.

"Don't you even fucking think about landing on one of those plates," Prussia growled at his bird, who cheeped and landed in the middle of the table. Prussia sighed, shaking his head. He had to snap out of this and focus. He had a few others things to do. The candles. He had to light the fucking candles. He was shaking so much that, when he turned on the lighter, he actually managed to burn his thumb.

"Fuck everything," Prussia grumbled, shaking the burn off before moving on with lighting the candles successfully. They were all around the dining room. Germany told him not to use candles, something about not trusting him and lighting fires in his house, but Prussia didn't listen to him. This was supposed to be romantic. Google said candlelit dinners were romantic. Google said it was normal to be nervous for something like this, but Prussia wasn't normal, dammit! His hands shouldn't be shaking and he shouldn't be constantly looking over at the damn door, waiting for the damn knock.

Prussia stared at the flame on the closest candle, watching the wax begin to run down, to the metal holder underneath it. They were pretty old relics, something Prussia kept for sentimentality reasons, but they were…pretty? Yeah, they were pretty. Proper dates had pretty things. God, he had no idea what the hell he was doing. He was definitely out of his element here, he couldn't do this. He should call to cancel, he decided. He reached for his phone in his pocket, only to have the doorbell ring loudly around him, making him jump and actually let out a startled yell. Gilbird made a tittering peep that sounded like a laugh.

"Shut the hell up," Prussia groaned before swiftly walking towards the door. He straightened himself out, adjusting the tie he'd learned how to tie off of YouTube, but he knew it was wrong. It all seemed wrong, his hands were clammy. Dammit, he had to keep himself together!

Sucking in a deep breath, he swiftly opened the door and his nerves relaxed slightly. The man in front of him looked perfectly relaxed, even slouching slightly as he attempted to hold his bear in his arms. And he looked perfect, everything down to the suit to that little curl that hung in his face.

"Hey, Birdie," Prussia smiled brightly, some of his nerves disentangling themselves.

"Hey," Canada smiled at him happily and Kumajirou finally managed to get out of his grip and swiftly walk over to Gilbird, who was tweeting happily at him. "So you, uh, said you had something planned?"

"Well, it is our…uh…anniversary…so I had to do…uh…something," Prussia mentally cursed himself for how stupid he sounded. So painfully stupid. He wasn't used to romantic shit, he was used to fighting and politics and war, sure, but romance? He had actually gotten close to calling Hungary, he was so out of his comfort zone. Hungary!

"That's sweet," Canada smiled sympathetically, placing a delicate hand on Prussia's cheek. "Thank you."

"No big deal," Prussia shrugged. Gilbird suddenly started cheeping quickly and in a panic but Prussia chose to ignore him for that moment.

"I can tell when you're uncomfortable," Canada smiled softly, kissing him chastely before stepping in and freezing where he stood. "Um, Prussia?"

"What? Did I do something wrong?" Prussia groaned, turning around. "I swear to God, I did everything like the website said." Prussia stopped his train of thought when he saw the scene in front of him. When he had jumped from the doorbell, he was so nervous, he hadn't noticed that he hit the small table, which held about five candles. They'd lit the curtain of the nearby window on fire and Prussia hadn't noticed it. The fire was already on the wall. "Shit," Prussia cursed, running towards it. He picked up one of the glasses of water that was nearby and attempted to put the fire out with it, but it wasn't enough.

"Does Germany keep a fire extinguisher anywhere?" Canada asked and Prussia mentally hit himself for being too nervous to smell the damn fire.

"No, but he fucking should if he keeps a lighter in my reach," Prussia groaned and the fire continued to spread. "Fuck, get a bucket from under the sink, fill it quickly." Canada nodded and ran to do what he said while Prussia grabbed hold of the other glass of water and attempted to use it to control the fire. He was so stupid, he couldn't do this romance thing right, could he?

* * *

"How did we manage to make it worse?" Canada laughed slightly as he and Prussia stood on the street, watching as firefighters tackled the fire that had taken over the entire dining room.

"I don't fucking know," Prussia groaned, running a hand through his hair. Germany would kill him as soon as he got back from Italy's house. "Why do I suck so bad at romance?" He gripped tightly onto the only thing he'd managed to get a hold of, one stupid, little candle. Gilbird and Kumajirou busied themselves by chasing after each other.

"I don't think you're bad at it," Canada smiled at him. "It was a very sweet thought. We can still get dinner, right? I don't really care where, if I'll be honest. As long as I'm with you."

"You're way too nice for your own good," Prussia shook his head. "Wherever you want to go, then."

"Know any place that makes good pancakes?" Canada hummed and Prussia smirked.

"Of course you'd want to get pancakes tonight," Prussia laughed. "Sure."

In just a matter of minutes, Prussia had left the burning house in the care of the firefighters, and they had made it to a small restaurant that was hardly busy. Prussia honestly felt a lot more relaxed than he did in the dining room. It was just a nice, relaxing, anniversary dinner.

"One second," Prussia said once their food had arrived, stopping Canada from devouring his high stack of pancakes. With a smirk, Prussia pulled out the last candle and his lighter, swiftly lighting it and setting it carefully on the table. "Awesome."

"Definitely," Canada laughed. "Try not to light this room on fire, then."

"I'll try," Prussia shrugged. "But it's just so hard to look away from you in this beautiful candlelight."

"Did you learn how to flirt online, too?" Canada giggled and Prussia rolled his eyes.

"It was easier to learn how to do than tying a tie," Prussia laughed and Canada finally dug into his mount of cooked batter drowned in syrup. And it was a perfect anniversary.

Well, for them at least.

* * *

**Prussia, you're so cute. How long has it been since I've had them as countries and not in an AU? At least a year, maybe two. I'll have another chapter or two, I think, of them as countries because I like the way they work as countries and not just as humans. In any case, Prussia as a nervous wreck is fantastically amusing to me. He managed to light Germany's house on fire. (Yes, I like to think Prussia lives in Germany's basement because he doesn't really have his own house…considering…not a country…) Canada didn't seem to mind though, he's such a sweetheart.**

**Anywho, please review and I'll see you for tomorrow's challenge, Kissing. Titled "Carnival".**


	5. Carnival

Day 5 Challenge: Kissing

Title: "Carnival"

Enjoy!

* * *

It was loud. Everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves and having a great time. Except for Matthew. He had come to the school's carnival with his brother, but Alfred decided to ditch him in favor of going off with the football team, leaving Matthew alone and with hardly any money to properly play any games. And he was naturally quiet, something that wasn't very good in situations like this, when everyone was yelling and earning attention over the nearly invisible teenager. Matthew sighed, walking up to a booth that was boasting polar bear stuffed animals. It was a shooting game with squirt guns, all you had to do was shoot water into the clown's mouth until the balloon popped. Easy enough.

Matthew waited a good ten minutes before the carney man noticed him and Matthew paid him the obscenely expensive prices before he picked up the gun. There was a timer above the center clown that began to tick down the seconds Matthew had to complete this task. Matthew bit his lip and carefully aimed, pulling the trigger. The water trail was weak, but he managed to get a lot of it into the clown's mouth. He smirked upon realizing that, at this rate, he would be able to win this game and get himself a nice polar bear. Suddenly, though, the stream coming from the gun ended, despite five more seconds on the clock. Matthew tried to shake the gun and pressed harder on the trigger, but nothing came out. The time ended.

"Too bad, kid," the carney said in his monotone voice. "Move on."

"Wait, that wasn't fair!" Matthew protested. "My gun stopped before the time ended!"

The carney didn't even pay him any mind, turning to the other customers that just showed up, a young couple. Matthew huffed silently to himself, turning to leave the game when he ran into a familiar face, standing very close to him. For a second, both teenage boys simply blinked at each other, but they soon recognized each other and the new boy smiled widely, a wicked smirk on his face.

"Hey, Birdie!" the abnormal teenager beamed. He was albino and widely regarded as weird, but he didn't seem to care, regarding himself as awesome every 10 minutes. Roughly. No, Matthew didn't time it.

"Hey, Gil," Matthew said. "What are you doing here? I thought you said you don't come to 'un-awesome' things like school carnivals."

"Franny, Toni, and I got in trouble at school the other day," Gilbert shrugged. "We were told it was either detention or setting up our own booth here and Franny got this hilarious idea and we all agreed to it. We were totally raking in the dough last time I was there! I thought you said you were coming with your brother."

"Well, I did," Matthew sighed. "But he ditched me. Told me to meet him at the car at 10."

"Lame," Gilbert scoffed, looking back at Matthew at the game. "So, what the hell happened at this game? I heard you trying to yell at the guy." Matthew rolled his eyes, knowing that was Gilbert's attempt at poking fun at Matthew's naturally quiet voice.

"The gun stopped working before the time even ended," Matthew grumbled. "That guy didn't even care."

"Yeah? Well, let's give it a try," Gilbert smirked proudly, making his way over to the booth just as the disappointed couple walked away. He slammed his money onto the booth and the man took it with a slightly raised eyebrow, but started the game anyway. Gilbert easily got the water to go into the clown's mouth and laughed just at the sight. Just like what happened with Matthew's game, the gun stopped working just a few seconds before the game ended. "What the hell?" Gilbert demanded.

"You're welcome to try again," the man shrugged behind the booth and Gilbert glared at him.

"It's really not that big of a deal, don't worry," Matthew muttered but Gilbert shook his head.

"No way was that fucking fair," Gilbert said. "Either give me a real shot or give me a bear."

"It was played fair and square," the carney said, absently counting the money he'd made off of the other suckers at this carnival. Gilbert raised an eyebrow before smirking again.

"Gimme another game," Gilbert said, putting a dollar on the booth and the carney raised an eyebrow before taking the money and staring the game again. Gilbert started off by shooting at the clown, but then swiftly moved so that he was firing at the carney. Matthew couldn't stop himself from laughing as the carney took a few steps back, thoroughly surprised, before the squirt gun stopped working again. "Bet you're happy it doesn't go the full time now, huh?"

The carney glared at them. "If you want the bear that bad, take it, get out of my hair." The man tore down a bear from his display, one that was wet, and threw it at Gilbert, who caught it triumphantly.

"Thank you, good sir!" Gilbert called after him as he walked back to Matthew, holding out his prize.

"If you hadn't gotten carried away, this wouldn't be wet," Matthew giggled, but took the bear anyway. He smiled softly, a blush creeping onto his face that he desperately tried to repressed. Gilbert was his friend, nothing more, he reminded himself. So what if he had a tiny, little crush on him? He wasn't about to let that get between their friendship. "Thank you, though."

"Carneys are easy to get pissed off, it's great," Gilbert laughed and started pulling Matthew off in some random direction. "Come on, if your brother ditched you, let's have a little fun together!"

"You said you were working a booth," Matthew said as Gilbert pulled him to a house of mirrors.

"I have some free time," Gilbert shrugged. "It's three people for one booth and we don't need more than one person, trust me. I think it's Franny's turn right now anyway. He's making plenty of money on his own."

"What kind of booth even is it?" Matthew asked.

Gilbert just smirked back at him, pulling him inside of the maze of mirrors that made them laugh when they looked fat or tall or just plain creepy. Gilbert even managed to scare a group of girls by creeping up on them and screaming.

* * *

"Whose idea was that again?" Matthew shivered slightly as they walked out of the haunted house. He was never a fan of creepy things. Alfred made him watch way too many horror movies, despite the fact that they actually scared both of them. It was chilly outside, too, and the full moon was just coming out. Just what Matthew needed while he was paranoid after coming out of a haunted house. Gilbert just laughed next to him. He hadn't been phased at all by any of the things that popped out of the walls or the zombies that chased after them.

"Yours," Gilbert laughed. "I thought it was funny that you actually wanted to give it a shot!"

"Shut up," Matthew mumbled. He had hoped that going into the mansion would give him a viable excuse to hold onto Gilbert's arm without it being weird or awkward for either of them, but he never had the guts to cling to Gilbert in fear. "How were you not even scared by any of that?"

"Nerves of steel, Birdie," Gilbert said proudly and Matthew glared at him. Suddenly, they were cut off by a loud ringing and Gilbert groaned, pulling out his phone and placing it against his ear. "Yeah? What the hell do you want? … I thought I started at 8. … Of course I know what time it is!" Gilbert looked at his watch and winced. "Yeah, I'll be there in a second." Gilbert sighed, putting his phone back into his pocket. "I guess I lost track of time."

Matthew looked at his watch. It was 8:30. Now the only question he had was why it took his friends so long to call him to see why he was running late.

"You have to go to your booth?" Matthew asked.

"Yeah," Gilbert sighed. "Hey, come with me, you'll at least keep me company." Matthew didn't even have a chance to reply before Gilbert was pulling him by his arm through the carnival, nearly bumping into several people. Matthew held the stuffed bear close to him as they wove through the crowd. Finally, they stopped in front of something Matthew had only glanced at a little earlier. A Kissing Booth.

"So this was you three?" Matthew bit back a laugh. There was a fairly long line of girls and Francis was at the booth, laughing and joking with Antonio.

"Awesome idea, right?" Gilbert laughed, pulling Matthew with him past the line and up to the other two thirds of the Bad Touch Trio.

"We would have called you sooner," Antonio sighed, "but Francis got a very long line and you told us not to interrupt you on your-"

"Shut up," Gilbert hissed and Matthew raised an eyebrow. Antonio just laughed and Francis stood up.

"My apologies, ladies," he announced with a sigh. "It appears as though I am done for the night. Gilbert will be taking my place. Not to worry, though, I will be back tomorrow, mes cheries." He winked and the girls all sighed happily. Gilbert gagged, rolling his eyes.

"Just wait 'till they all learn that your gay for that Arthur guy," Gilbert smirked and Francis laughed airily.

"I believe the term is bisexual," Francis chuckled. "Now, go ahead with your brilliant plan while the ladies run away from your creepiness." Gilbert glared at him and Matthew laughed, though he did notice that the line had disappeared now that Francis had stepped away. Gilbert lounged on the folding chair behind the booth with a smirk and looked over at Matthew.

"Whaddya say, Birdie?" Gilbert smirked. "I can give you one for free, just this time though."

The blush that rose to Matthew's face made both Antonio and Francis laugh and Gilbert smile. Matthew sputtered in an attempt to come up with some sort of excuse, but he couldn't really think of one. Gilbert had just offered to kiss him and it wasn't like Matthew was going to deny an offer like that. Did he know that Matthew liked him? How long? Oh, God, this was embarrassing now…

Antonio and Francis laughed behind him before pushing him forward, to the front of the booth where Gilbert was leaning forward happily. So he was actually being serious…

"Why?" Matthew asked simply.

"Because I like you," Gilbert shrugged. He was still cocky, that was for sure, but Matthew knew him well enough to know that the albino was actually nervous. So did that mean he was telling the truth? "If you don't wanna, I understand and all that shit."

Matthew moved before his brain could tell him to stop. He kneeled down slightly and pulled Gilbert closer by his shirt, leaning forward slightly to meet his lips. He'd thought about doing this for quite some time but he never thought he'd be able to act on it. The feeling of Gilbert's lips on his was…electrifying and he definitely didn't want to pull away. Gilbert apparently shared the same feelings and moved to deepen the kiss, an action Matthew happily received. It was all too easy to ignore the loud carnival around them and just focus on Gilbert, who seemed to know exactly what he was doing. Matthew didn't even realize he needed air as badly as he did until Gilbert pulled away just slightly, so that they were puffing air into each other's faces.

"Guess you wanted to, huh?" Gilbert smirked and Matthew put his forehead on Gilbert's.

"I don't know how I feel about you being at this booth for the rest of the night," Matthew muttered.

"You can keep me company and make sure I don't do anything you wouldn't approve of," Gilbert laughed slightly and Matthew nodded, giving him a quick peck on the lips before standing up straight, albeit a little flushed. Matthew looked over to where Antonio and Francis had been, knowing that they would tease them or something, but they were gone. Matthew glanced around, but found that they were nowhere in sight. "I guess they do know when to back off," Gilbert laughed.

Matthew noticed that there was no line around them. Girls glanced at the booth, but none of them seemed to like the way Gilbert looked, simply scoffing and continuing on with their day. Gilbert didn't seem to mind, leaning back in his chair.

"You wanna do that again?" Gilbert asked and Matthew looked back at him.

"As long as you're not busy," Matthew smiled.

* * *

**The Bad Touch Trio would have their own kissing booth, just to see how many people they could kiss. And I think Francis would be very popular. He probably got a few cold sores out of that one, hehehe… Anyway, here we are with this one, I hope you all enjoyed it, I love writing first kisses, they're always so cute!**

**Tomorrow's challenge is Wearing Each Other's Clothes and it's titled "Fire and Ice."**

**Please review!**


	6. Fire and Ice

Day 6 Challenge: Wearing Each Other's Clothes

Title: "Fire and Ice"

Enjoy!

* * *

The Kingdom of Water was famous for few things. One thing it was famous for was their cursed Ice Prince, who boasted the markings of a cursed man, white hair and red eyes. It is said that he is limited to only using ice magic, despite his kingdom's mastery over all water magic. It is also said that, every time he uses his magic, a deadly frostbite crawls further and further to his chest, to his heart, where it will eventually kill him.

The Kingdom of Fire was famous for many things. They constantly went to war with the other Kingdoms, aside from their only ally, the Kingdom of Air. They had the most dangerous element to control with their magic, and they boasted twin princes, though only one of them would ascend to the throne. The other had no control over his magic, serving as a constant threat to those around him, able to even burn members of the Kingdom of Fire, those that cannot be burned.

One day, these two princes met at a party. The Ice Prince risked his life to help the out of control Prince of Fire calm down enough to save the people at the party. The next day, the Ice Prince was asked by the King and Queen of Fire to help their prince learn to control his magic, as it appeared that the Ice Prince was the only one that could stand a chance against the out of control prince.

Perhaps the two were destined to meet, despite the fact that fire and ice do not mix well. Perhaps they can overcome those differences and perhaps their relationship would advance beyond that of simple trainer and trainee.

* * *

"I…don't really see how this is helping," Matthew mumbled while Gilbert lounged on the prince's bed. He never got used to seeing the bright red, yellow, and orange of the castle of fire, but as much as he liked it, he did miss the blues and blacks of the castle of water.

"I told you not to question my methods, didn't I?" Gilbert smirked, looking over at Matthew carefully. His latest ingenious idea to improve Matthew's self-confidence so he could use his magic without fear honestly came out of the blue to him. It was just a random idea and he honestly didn't expect Matthew to agree to it. They were fairly similar in size and so Gilbert decided to have them switch clothes, simply as an experiment. He did prefer Matthew in the red, yellow, and orange, but seeing him in white and light blue wasn't bad. Gilbert insisted on keeping his gloves on, only to hide that damned curse.

"But this seems a little…weird," Matthew said quietly. Gilbert sighed. The boy still wouldn't speak up, apparently afraid of fire coming out of his mouth.

"How do you think I look in red?" Gilbert hopped off the bed and admired himself in the clothing he was in. It didn't feel very different from the clothing he was used to, but he didn't feel much with the frostbite anyway. "It brings out my eyes, right?"

"I guess," Matthew giggled slightly.

"You would look good in the blue that the King wears, I think," Gilbert mused. "That's nearly your eye color, but not quite…Alfred's blue eyes are perfect for it, but that's Alfred. I don't really give much of a shit about him."

"So…what now?" Matthew asked.

Gilbert thought for a while before he came up with an awesome idea. Just what Matthew needed to get out of his bubble. He had to fight to make sure he didn't grin while he did this. "Well…uh…I'm not really sure…" he made sure he whispered, too, just to make sure his acting all the better.

"What are you doing?" Matthew asked, giving him an odd look.

"Would you…stop staring at me, please?" Gilbert muttered, looking at the ground to hide his smirk. "It's making me…making me nervous…"

"I don't talk like that," Matthew protested.

"You shouldn't…talk so loud," Gilbert mumbled, looking up at him with the best kicked puppy face he could muster. "It makes me nervous."

"No, it doesn't," Matthew rolled his eyes.

"You're so mean," Gilbert said, still making his voice a whisper.

"Yeah? Well," Matthew took a deep breath. "I'm awesome, so I don't have to listen to whatever the hell you have to say. It's not awesome enough for me."

Gilbert definitely had to hide his smirk now. This was going just as planned. He just had to get Matthew to be a little louder and this would have been a huge success. "You don't need to be so harsh about it…"

"You're going to have to suck it up," Matthew boasted proudly, his voice going up a notch. "I don't give a shit about your feelings, all I really care about is myself!" Now he was shouting. Gilbert couldn't hold back his smirk now. What the kid was saying wasn't bugging him, he'd already come to terms with all of that a long time ago. "I'm the Cursed Ice Prince, I don't have to care about anything but myself because I'm just so freaking awesome. Everyone else is too lame for me to worry about! And…and…shit." Gilbert found himself cackling at the end. Matthew couldn't think of any other way to insult him and just resorted to using a curse word. Gilbert couldn't stop himself from laughing.

"Oh, my God, that was amazing!" Gilbert said, trying to get air into his lungs as he did so. "I didn't expect it to work so well! That was beautiful, Mattie!"

"You're not…mad at me?" Matthew asked. "I just…"

"I did the same thing to you," Gilbert's laughter was now down to a chuckle. "But I am awesome, just so you know. Undeniably so."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Matthew mumbled, but he was still louder than he had been just a few minutes ago. Gilbert wasn't about to tell him that, though. "I wouldn't go so far as awesome."

"Nah, you can't deny it," Gilbert smirked. "My level of awesomeness is so far beyond your awesomeness that you can't even sense it."

"Sure," Matthew rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say."

* * *

**Another short one, oh well. If you're curious, this is an AU I created on New Year's in a six chapter (I think it was six chapters) fanfic called Burned. It does end in PruCan, but I loved it so much that I had to write it again. I wrote this on the road to Kansas, so much fun. Can you sense my boredom in the words I'm writing?**

**Anyway, please review!**

**See you for tomorrow's challenge, Cosplaying, titled "Treat".**


	7. Treat

Day 7 Challenge: Cosplaying

Title: "Treat"

Enjoy!

* * *

"Al, don't you think we're a little old to be doing something like this?" Matthew sighed, adjusting his wig as Alfred attempted to drag him to yet another house. It was getting dark outside anyway, but the people on their porches could see the costumes. Some wouldn't even give them candy because of how old they were, and Alfred complained about a lot of them giving toothbrushes or chips instead of "proper" candy.

"Are you kidding me?" Alfred stared back at him, oblivious to his brown wig becoming slightly tilted. "This is free candy we're talking about here! We can't just leave that to the little kids running around!"

"Yeah, yeah, Eren Jaeger, go up to the door," Matthew sighed, pushing his brother up the steps to the next house. This one, as evident by the kids walking away, gave away entire candy bars. Alfred had decided, after becoming obsessed with Attack on Titan, to make Matthew get a cosplay with him for Halloween. He decided to be the "hero" of the anime and made Matthew be who he viewed as the "sidekick", which was Armin. Honestly, in Matthew's opinion, Armin was more than just a sidekick, but he would let Alfred have what he wanted on his second favorite holiday, second only to the Fourth of July.

"This candy's gonna be so cool!" Alfred said excitedly, getting a better grip on his pillowcase that was already half full with whatever he could get his hands on. He quickly rang the doorbell of the house, looking at the decorations that donned the outside. Some moved with motion sensors and tried to scare little kids. Alfred was only scared of ghosts and horror movies, though, so a moving, fake skeleton just made him laugh on this joyous holiday.

The person opened the door, they said what they had to say, the man gave them candy, the usual dance, and then they turned to leave. That was when Matthew saw another teenager that was having his own jolly fun time, waltzing around in cosplay in their neighborhood. He couldn't quite tell who it was in the darkness of the night, so he guessed he would have a horrible time trying to figure out their real identity.

They walked past each other and the newcomer took an interest in Matthew immediately, raising an eyebrow and leaning a little closer.

"Well, aren't you a cute little prince," the person said and it was only then that Matthew got a good look at him under a streetlight. The blue school uniform, the short, blonde hair, the rose in his hand. This person was dressed as Tamaki Suoh from Ouran High School Host Club. And he was attempting to stay in character.

"Last time I checked, I thought Tamaki was straight," Matthew mumbled, continuing to walk with Alfred, who was giving the other cosplayer an odd look, but he continued on his way to the next house, more interested in his growing candy stash.

"No one ever said I wasn't gay, my dear," Tamaki continued, walking with Matthew. "I don't believe I've ever met a more beautiful Armin in my life."

Matthew simply rolled his eyes, not quite sure on anything else he could say. It took quite a lot of effort to get into this cosplay and he was incredibly happy that he didn't make it like his brother proposed they did. It was so complicated and slightly uncomfortable, but he was thankful he looked good.

"Come on," Alfred whined, gripping onto Matthew's wrist to pull him towards another house around a few laughing kids. "Let's keep going." Matthew followed him, but noticed that Tamaki was hot on their heels, apparently not quite done with them yet.

"Why are you leaving so soon, my little Romeo?" Tamaki continued.

"Romeo?" Matthew scoffed.

"Unless you would prefer to be my Juliet and then we can run away from all adversity together," Tamaki said.

"Yes, let's go kill ourselves together," Matthew rolled his eyes and Alfred marched them up to the next door and rang the doorbell. Tamaki did seem a little taken aback by that, but continued anyway, just as the door opened, taking hold of Matthew's hand.

"I would be willing to do anything for you, my love," Tamaki confessed and the woman that answered the door giggled before giving them candy. Matthew took his hand back before quickly walking away with Alfred, but that Tamaki was still close behind them. "How can I show my love for you, my prince, if you keep running away from me?"

"How do you know you love him if you just met him?" Alfred groaned, rolling his eyes, and tried to walk away faster, but Tamaki just picked up his pace as well.

"I can just tell by the spark that we shared when our eyes met for the first time," Tamaki said dreamily. "It was such a spark that it brought tears to my eyes and I knew that such a beauty could not go unrecognized, my little prince."

Now, Matthew blushed. It was dark and he was in costume and there was a high chance that the cosplayer was just saying that, but it was quite the compliment.

"Your face shines so bright in the moonlight, though I would love to see you up close, in the glowing sun of the day to see you shine even brighter than the sun," Tamaki continued, grabbing hold of Matthew's hand again and placing what felt like a slip of paper. "I am sad to say I must go for the night, though my dreams will be filled only with thoughts of you, my prince."

With that, Tamaki simply left, disappearing quickly into the night, leaving Matthew alone with Alfred.

"Finally," Alfred groaned. "I thought he'd never leave."

"Yeah," Matthew mumbled while Alfred dragged him over to a new house. There was a light on the porch as he rang the doorbell and Matthew opened the piece of paper to see what was written on it. Scrawled in handwriting that definitely didn't belong to Tamaki Suoh, were the words _Gilbert Beilschmidt_ followed by a phone number. Matthew could just tell that this guy was a player, but it wouldn't hurt to give him a call. With pick-up lines like that, he couldn't be all bad.

* * *

**This one's a little short because of major writer's block for this one prompt. I don't know what happened, but it just didn't want to come out, but I got it out eventually and this is what happened. Gilbert's a player and that cosplay gives him the perfect excuse to flirt with whoever pleases him at the moment. And Attack on Titan is huge, even to people that don't like anime, so I figured it was the perfect thing for Alfred to cosplay from, especially considering the layout of characters. Everything worked out nicely, at least.**

**Please review, it's very kind!**

**And join me for tomorrow's challenge, Shopping, titled "Pet Store!" See you there!**


	8. Pet Store

Day 8 Challenge: Shopping

Title: "Pet Store"

Enjoy!

* * *

"Please?" Gilbert begged, attempting to pull his boyfriend through the crowd of people at the mall.

"Gilbert, really?" Matthew huffed, adjusting his skewed hat on his head. A friendly reminder that it was still a blizzard outside. The people milling around in the mall didn't care, though, intent on finding the best deal for a gift for their loved ones on this fine holiday, Christmas. He was thankful when Gilbert agreed to go shopping with him, but if he knew that he would be this distracted this soon…he wouldn't have brought him along. "I have to get gifts, we can't waste time at a pet store."

"Waste time?" Gilbert gaped at him. "How can you waste time surrounded by cute little puppies and birds and cats?"

Matthew sighed, shaking his head. Matthew had learned the hard way that Gilbert had a secret fondness for all things cute, something he demanded Matthew hide to keep up Gilbert's "tough" image. That didn't stop Gilbert from cooing over stray cats or pampering his little pet bird.

"Maybe after we're done shopping," Matthew sighed. "I should really get this done now, which is kind of why I'm here in the first place." He tried to convince him, he really did, but Gilbert wasn't about to stop pleading anytime soon.

"But if we do that, we'll be all tired and that won't be awesome because we won't want to play with the puppies," Gilbert groaned.

"Play?" Matthew deadpanned. "What's wrong with just going in there and looking?"

"I'm 18, remember, Birdie?" Gilbert smirked. Yes, Matthew remembered. He also recalled that Gilbert was the oldest one in their class due to the fact that he was held back, but he'd learned to avoid that subject. "Please? Let's just play with one little puppy?"

"So help me, Gilbert, if we spend more than 15 minutes in that store-" Matthew was cut off by the albino's cheers and was swiftly dragged into the store. Little kids fawned over the little rabbits and parents scolded kids that got too close and the store clerk looked like he had the worst job in the world, about ready to bang his head against the table.

"Let's pick one out!" Gilbert said excitedly, pulling Mathew over to the wall of small cages that the dogs were left in. Some of them were attempting to sleep through the screaming children while others chased around their little playmates. They were adorable, Matthew had to admit with a small smile, but he wouldn't give Gilbert that satisfaction this soon.

"What about this one?" Matthew asked, looking in interest at a pure white dog with fairly shaggy fur that was looking right at Matthew, something even humans seldom did, and wagging its tail excitedly. It barked happily at him and Matthew kneeled down in front of the glass to place his hand against it and the dog licked the glass to get to the hand. Matthew giggled.

"Fuck yeah," Gilbert laughed and ran off to get the clerk. In just a matter of two minutes, they were in a small pen, kneeling down while the dog excitedly ran in circles around them, barking like it was the best day of its life.

"He's so adorable," Matthew laughed while the dog managed to jump onto his lap and started licking his face. Matthew giggled, it tickled, and didn't try very hard to push the little guy away.

"And you said this would be a waste of time," Gilbert scoffed. "Bullshit, I say!"

"Don't get all high and mighty now," Matthew rolled his eyes, pushing the dog towards Gilbert. The dog stopped just a step away from the albino and tilted its head curiously before trotting around him in a circle.

"He's just admiring my awesomeness," Gilbert boasted while the dog sniffed at his arm.

"Yes, I'm sure that's it," Matthew laughed, shaking his head. The dog yelped loudly before jumping right into Gilbert's chest, making the boy fall over and hit his head slightly. "Oh, my God, are you okay?" Matthew immediately went over to look over his boyfriend, who was having a laughing fit while the dog licked at his face.

"Holy shit, this dog is awesome!" Gilbert cackled. "Stop it, that tickles!"

"I think we've found a new way of torture," Matthew giggled, pulling the dog off of him and the dog yipped happily, turning around to run playful circles around Matthew again.

"Do you know what the perfect thing to do is after getting licked all over you face by a dog?" Gilbert smirked devilishly and the dog stopped, looking at him curiously again. Before Matthew could react, Gilbert placed a swift kiss on his lips and Matthew frowned slightly when he noticed that they were a little slimy.

"I feel like I should be disgusted," Matthew muttered as Gilbert pulled away. "But you've kissed me after Gilbird, so I don't think this is much worse, really."

"That was one time!" Gilbert laughed. "You can't count me down for something as small as that!"

"You're lucky I don't make fun of you for kissing your bird," Matthew laughed, getting the dog to jump into his lap again and scratching him behind the ear to the point where the dogs hind leg started moving slightly. There was no way Matthew could hide the smile that appeared on his face.

"You look pretty good with a dog, I'm not gonna lie," Gilbert noted. "It's pretty hot."

"I know, I look sexy with animals," Matthew giggled. "I should become a model with dogs, it's my calling."

"But then you'd have other guys and girls drooling over you," Gilbert smirked. "I'm not sure if I wanna share you."

"Then we can just get a dog once we live together and you can stare at me for as long as you want," Matthew shrugged and blushed slightly after registering what he had just said. The dog happily licked at Matthew's hot face while Gilbert took his time registering it as well. "You don't really have to take what I just said seriously, it just kind of…came out."

"Nah, I wouldn't really mind," Gilbert shrugged. "I-If you wouldn't mind…really."

"I don't really know," Matthew confessed. He did truly like Gilbert, a lot. He'd admired him for a while and eventually, after a miracle that involved his cousin Francis and a lot of duct tape (don't ask) they had started going out. Gilbert was known as a bit of a player but didn't seem to mind at all going the slow pace that Matthew wanted to go. But…living together was very fast.

"We don't have to think about it now," Gilbert shrugged.

"Yeah," Matthew nodded.

"I wanna see you rock these winter exams first!" Gilbert joked and Matthew laughed slightly, the tension slowly melting away as Gilbert thought of ways to get off topic. Eventually, they had to leave the pet store, as sad as the three of them were to part ways, they had to leave the dog at the store and Matthew dragged his boyfriend all around the mall to find the perfect gifts for his family and friends and forcing Gilbert to carry all of the boxes and bags he'd managed to collect. Gilbert was stronger than him, after all.

However, on their way out of the mall, Matthew found himself hesitating as they walked past a certain store. Gilbert groaned at the pause, apparently thinking that Matthew had managed to get sidetracked again.

"Hey, Gil, let's go to the pet store."

* * *

**I'm sorry these are really short right now! It's just that there's not a lot of plot to be planned! At least not with these last three. Next one hopefully has a little more and then the one after as well. And then prepare for the kigurumis, because that's gonna be awkward, since I had to actually google what those really were in order to come up with a proper way to write that one… Anyway, pet stores are fun, I have a friend who's 18 and she loves getting to play with the puppies. And I have this head cannon that Gilbert has this weakness for cute things, ergo his love of our little Mattie!**

**Anyway, please review!**

**And tune in for tomorrow's challenge, Hanging Out With Friends, titled "Freaks".**


	9. Freaks

Day 9 Challenge: Hanging Out With Friends

Title: "Freaks"

Enjoy!

* * *

Matthew had never felt so alive since he ran away from home. It had been so _easy_ and his family just had to make it easy. So…Matthew was a mutant, a freak. His brother was fine with it, calling him a super hero and all of that. But his parents? They were ashamed of him, made sure Matthew's control over his powers made it so that he never showed it in public. So he ran away. He didn't want to be anything but himself and that involved being a freak. Sadly, Matthew figured out the hard way that living on one's own was actually very difficult and he nearly starved, but that was when he ran into three other mutants. They'd all ran away from home and they were living together. If Matthew had been smart, he would have stopped to carefully consider the offer to be taken into their group, but he was starving and desperate, so he joined a group of complete strangers.

It was probably the best decision he had ever made, aside from running away from home. He was happy, free to be himself. They lived in New York City, a very long way away from where Matthew had previously lived, and they weren't afraid to show their powers. People would call them freaks and, while they were freaking out and watching the three, Matthew would use his invisibility to pickpocket them. They deserved it for being cruel in the first place.

They all mixed rather well, despite the three all having rather…loud personalities. Francis was a huge flirt and very perverted and his control over technology became very useful during their pranks. Antonio was a little dumb, but very nice. If something did manage to piss him off, however, that was an entirely different story. He could control wind, something that the three often used to look up a girl's skirt. And then there was Gilbert, who had been decided by no verbal decision to be their little group's leader. He was loud, obnoxious, annoying, strong, decisive, and brave. He had classic super strength and super speed, which came in handy when they needed to make a quick get away from the police.

And, like they did every Wednesday night, they were hopping buildings. It was something Gilbert had come up with, a way for them all to blow off some steam without having to worry about the humans on the ground yelling at them or attacking them simply because they were mutants. It was fantastic, to feel the rush of wind in his hair and be able to run as far as he wanted. Gilbert always ran slightly ahead and kept an eye out for danger, but he had fun nonetheless, howling happily as they ran.

"Sorry," Francis muttered, jogging to a stop on one building. The other three stopped for him, all of them panting, though Gilbert was obviously less tired than the rest. "I must rest for a bit."

"You getting old, Franny?" Gilbert cackled and Matthew hit his arm. "What did I do?"

"You know full well," Matthew said simply.

"Here, amigo," Antonio sighed and a cold breeze whipped by. It felt amazing and all present let out a content sigh. "Ah, that feels great!"

"So, what should we have for dinner?" Gilbert smirked, crouching at the end of the ledge of the building, looking around. "It looks like we have our choice between Italian, Chinese, and a hot dog stand."

"Well, the hot dog stand is easier to steal from," Matthew mumbled, looking at the extravagant, very expensive looking Italian restaurant. The Chinese restaurant also looked very extravagant, though slightly less so than the Italian one.

"That's no fun, Birdie," Gilbert laughed. "All we gotta do for that is distract him while you steal from him. Where's the excitement?"

"I could go for Italian," Antonio shrugged.

"We all know which Italian you would go for," Francis snickered beside him and Matthew barely held back a laugh. Gilbert snorted.

"He's human, there's obviously no chance that is happening," Antonio sighed. "Weren't we talking about food just a minute ago?"

"I'm starving," Francis groaned. "It must be all of this running."

"You haven't even done real running," Gilbert scoffed. "Try doing what I do and we'll see if you're tired."

"Italian sounds good," Matthew nodded.

"There is really no better option right now," Francis shrugged.

"Then it's settled," Gilbert smirked.

"You and Mattie can share a plate of spaghetti," Antonio teased before they all jumped down from the short building. Matthew blushed and Gilbert pretended not to hear, though the blush was even more present on his pale face in the light of the streetlamps.

* * *

"Delicious!" Antonio moaned happily, lounging on a beanbag that was currently in the slow process of bleeding out its insides. They were in their hideout…which was basically the back room of an old restaurant no one went to owned by a mutant named Yao. But that wasn't important. What was important was the fact that they were nearing the end of their expensive looking Italian meal. The serving sizes were huge and, though they were homeless, they weren't exactly starving. Gilbert and Matthew did end up sharing a bowl of pasta. Not that they really minded.

"I agree," Matthew hummed, using a plastic fork to pick up just a little more food. Anymore and he'd be bursting in just a few minutes. Gilbert laughed, eating a little more out of their shared bowl on his lap. He ate more than everyone here and Matthew laughed, tossing the fork onto the ground half-heartedly.

"So, what should we do tomorrow?" Francis asked lazily, leaning on an old recliner they'd found in an alleyway a while ago. Gilbert and Mathew were sitting on the only mattress they'd found that wasn't crawling with bugs and rodents, a small blanket tossed on it if any of them decided they were cold.

"I say we prank that news company," Gilbert shrugged. "The one that keeps coming out with stories about 'freaks'," he put air quotes around the last word for emphasis. "They deserve a good prank or two."

"I would be more than willing to assist," Francis smirked.

"Birdie, how are you doing on turning other things invisible?" Gilbert asked. That was an ability Matthew had only recently learned he had, to be able to turn things he touched invisible, but it was tricky and he could hardly duplicate it.

"Um, better," Matthew mumbled. He'd managed to figure out how to get it to work on his clothing so he wouldn't have to worry about stripping if he wanted to be completely invisible. There were plenty of awkward incidences when Matthew had gotten stuck places without clothing and invisible and Gilbert had to come and save him.

"We could always test their hospitality to us," Gilbert shrugged. "Peacefully walk ourselves inside, 'accidentally' let it slip that we're freaks, and see where it goes from there. We could have Mattie film it, invisibly of course, and Franny could stream it to the big screen in front of their building. It'd love to see that jerk, Kirkland's face when he sees what people think of him after he snaps at us like he snaps at all the other mutants."

"Oh, I'm sure we could make him even more pissed off than the other mutants have," Antonio laughed.

"Doesn't seem like a hard challenge at all," Francis shrugged.

"Awesome," Gilbert nodded proudly. "That's what we'll do tomorrow, then."

"And what about tonight," Francis smirked. "Are you two going to do something interesting again?" Francis laughed when Matthew squeaked at that and Gilbert groaned, falling backwards on the mattress.

"One fucking time!" Gilbert groaned. "I can't have any peace, can I?"

"Matthew didn't seem to mind at all," Antonio laughed. "He really seemed to enjoy it!" Now Matthew's blush returned with a vengeance. As what usually happened when he got embarrassed, he turned invisible. "Aw, don't be like that! I didn't mean it that badly!"

"Don't worry about them, Birdie," Gilbert sighed, sitting up again and slinging an arm perfectly around Matthew's shoulders. Matthew had no idea how he managed to do it, but Gilbert always seemed to know where he was when he was invisible. Gilbert even managed to place a kiss right in the middle of Matthew's cheek. "We can have our privacy elsewhere."

"In your secret lair outside?" Antonio smirked. "We can still hear you out there!"

"We're not that loud," Matthew mumbled, still invisible due to his complete and utter embarrassment. He had decided he really liked Gilbert a while ago and Gilbert decided he liked Matthew a little after that. Gilbert was a lot more straightforward about it than Matthew and due to his constant badgering, the two decided to try out a relationship and it hadn't broken anything apart yet.

"When you're overwhelmed with an emotion, you speak in French, mon ami," Francis snickered. "You may whisper when you talk normally, but you can be very loud when Gilbert decides to go to certain areas."

"And we're done with this subject," Gilbert said loudly. He was obviously embarrassed as well and that made Matthew smile. He didn't like to show any other emotion than his usual one, but Matthew saw his softer side a lot more than Gilbert would have liked. Matthew thought it was cute, he definitely liked it when Gilbert was embarrassed or acting sweet. He just didn't get to see it a lot on the streets. "Let's talk about something else, kay?"

"I could offer you a few new positions to try," Francis mused and the look of horror on Gilbert's face made Matthew laugh so hard that he came out of his invisibility. Of course, he was very embarrassed as well, but that didn't stop the laughter. "I am being serious, after all you need to learn to spice things up if you want to keep the relationship alive."

"Okay, no," Gilbert stood up swiftly. "If you wanna try out new positions, go hire a prostitute or something, I think I saw a few that knew your name about a block away."

"They are no fun if they know my name," Francis muttered. "Wait, how do they know my name?"

"A few of them tragically happened to fall for you, Franny," Gilbert smirked. "I was more than happy to supply a name for them. Some don't even mind that you're a freak, isn't that great?"

Antonio started laughing and Matthew even giggled slightly while Francis sighed, desperately collapsing onto his chair and Gilbert smirked triumphantly.

"You're lucky I don't wanna get swarmed with tramps, or I would have told them where you live," Gilbert continued proudly. "I didn't wanna chance them thinking my Birdie's cute or anything, I'm not sharing him with anyone."

"Thank you," Matthew chuckled. "I think."

"Well, if we are going to be pulling that prank tomorrow," Antonio's laughter died down enough for him to speak again, "we should head to bed now, keep up our strength, right?"

"Well, then I expect you two to sleep," Francis smirked. "If I hear any noises, I will kick you two out to have your fun outside!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Franny," Gilbert rolled his eyes and Francis turned off the lights with a flick of his wrist.

Gilbert and Matthew settled onto the mattress together, neither Francis nor Antonio caring about where they were currently having to sleep. Gilbert wrapped his arms securely around Matthew, who nuzzled a little closer to him. He let out a happy sigh. He'd never been this happy in his old life, but now that he was happy and proud to be a mutant, things seemed to be looking up.

"Hey, Gil," Matthew said and Gilbert hummed in acknowledgement. Matthew's eyes always adjusted quickly to the dark, so he could clearly see Gilbert's face and swiftly placed a quick peck on his lips that Gilbert smiled slightly into.

"I hear something," Francis laughed and Antonio laughed with him. Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"Go fuck a prostitute," Gilbert sighed.

"Go fuck a mutant," Antonio snickered.

"I would be happy to."

* * *

**Yay, this one turned out a little longer! I'm so proud of myself! Anyway, I have a soft spot for writing mutants, mainly because that's what my novel is about but that's not important. When the prompt thing said hanging out with friends, I immediately went to the other two thirds of the Bad Touch Trio. I like to think that Matthew gets along well with them, since he gets along well with anyone, as long as they're not a complete ass hole. And he gets along with Gilbert, so… Anywho, I hope you enjoyed the plotlessness. The next one should have a little more plot to it, I think.**

**Sorry this took a little long to update, I'm at this all-inclusive resort that doesn't include internet and so we had to pay for it and that took a while to decide. To make up for it, I'll be posting again in, like, 9 hours because that's my morning and then from then on it'll be in the mornings until I get back home!**

**Please review, it's very kind.**

**And join me next for the challenge, With Animal Ears, titled "Rival".**


	10. Rival

Day 10 Challenge: With Animal Ears

Title: "Rival"

Enjoy!

* * *

Gilbert was always careful. With enemies like those damned Cats, he had to be careful, otherwise something bad might happen. Naturally, though, Gilbert would never let a Cat harm him, a Wolf. As far as he was concerned, those damned felines across the border didn't even have separate jobs, like the Dogs did. One of those jobs was a Wolf, they kept the peace, protected the peace, and kept the damned Cats away. Gilbert often got the job of protecting a section of the border and he was always careful. Just not today.

The border was boring as usual. There was a good mile of just wasteland between the Cats and the Dogs in this world. A ring of wasteland and water that neither of the species passed. There were only two kinds of people in this world and they hated each other. No one crossed the border, and if they did, they were immediately killed by the other side. That's just how this worked. The Wolves kept the peace on the side of the Dogs and the Cats kept the peace on their own side. Gilbert had never seen it and he'd never heard tales of people that went over to the other side, since no one ever came back.

Today, though, something interesting happened. Gilbert saw something going across the border. In all of his time as a Wolf, he'd never seen something on the border. He just never had a lucky day on the border. Until then. It was definitely a person and Gilbert perked up, his ears struggling to pick up any sound coming from the intruder. He smelled the air and it was definitely something he didn't recognize. Gilbert was alone today and he decided to immediately jump into action.

He ran forward as fast as he could into the border, right to the intruder. He grew close to the man and looked in interest at the odd looking ears. He'd never seen something like it before and it…interested him more than anything else. Next he saw the actual person. He looked no different than any Dog he'd seen, but this was definitely a Cat, something he should be careful about. The Cat in front of him…as cute as he was…there was something wrong. He was stumbling. They two caught eyes, crimson and violet, before the Cat collapsed onto the ground. Gilbert immediately rushed over to him and looked the Cat over.

He didn't have any scars on him but Gilbert could tell just by looking at his lips that he was dehydrated. Had he been lost on the border or something? Gilbert bit his lip, knowing he should just let this creature die…but his conscience got the better of him. He pulled out his canteen of water and carefully put it to the lips of the Cat, who eagerly drank from it, apparently not completely passed out.

"What are you doing here?" Gilbert asked coldly and the Cat gave him a confused look.

"I had heard," the Cat mumbled before coughing, cutting himself off. Gilbert rolled his eyes. The more he looked at the Cat, the more he realized that he wasn't too badly out of shape. Perhaps just not used to being away from water for so long. If he'd walked all the way from the other side, that would be some walk, but it wasn't that bad.

"Just…drink," Gilbert sighed and sat down in front of the Cat, his tail swishing sand about behind him. The Cat's tail wasn't very impressive, it was basically nothing compared to Gilbert's but he wasn't about to make a fuss over the fact of who was more awesome at that point. The Cat nodded and drank from the rest of the canteen eagerly, quickly coming back to what Gilbert assumed to be his usual self. "Now, what the hell are you doing here?"

The Cat glanced at him before staring at the ground. His ears twitched on his head and Gilbert raised an eyebrow, waiting patiently. It was still a few hours until the next Wolf came by to check on him and then a few hours later when he would be relieved of his shift…To go home to an empty house. His own brother had been stupid enough to attempt crossing the border, having never been seen again.

"I had heard that the Dogs hated us," the Cat mumbled. "I just…never thought…"

"Well, you hate us," Gilbert scoffed.

"No, we don't," the Cat shook his head.

"Yeah, sure," Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Then why does no one that goes over there come back?"

"If you seem to hate us, why did you give me water?" the Cat asked.

"I'm not heartless," Gilbert crossed his arms proudly over his chest.

"Yeah," the Cat snorted. "If you want to see why no one comes back, then come with me."

"No way," Gilbert shook his head. "I'm gonna get killed over there."

"I should have gotten killed going over here," the Cat rolled his eyes. "Alfred was sure I'd get killed at the halfway point, which is why I didn't really come with his knowledge…"

"Are you stupid or something?" Gilbert asked and looked at the ears in interest again. He noticed that the ears twitched a lot more than other ones Gilbert had seen. He leaned a little closer to them, very interested.

"What are you doing?" the Cat asked, leaning away from Gilbert with very cautious eyes, which Gilbert just noticed were a lot different from what Gilbert was used to. They reacted violently with the light, turning to slits very quickly in the sunlight, but growing bigger in Gilbert's shadow.

"That's so…" Gilbert leaned closer and the Cat leaned away again, this time falling onto his back. He winced and Gilbert sighed, holding out a hand to help the Cat up. "Sorry, I've never seen a Cat before."

"Well, I've seen plenty of Dogs, so I'm not very curious about you," the Cat mumbled. "Live ones, in case you were unsure about me."

"Live Dogs?" Gilbert asked. "What the hell do you do, enslave them?!"

"Why would we do something like that?" the Cat retaliated. "We're not savages! Are all of you Dogs really this stupid? I should have figured after Ludwig nearly killed all of us."

"Wait, wait, wait, Ludwig?" Gilbert asked. There was a very high chance that who he was talking about wasn't really his brother, but there was also a chance that it could be. "What does he look like? What color are his ears and tail?!"

"Come with me," the Cat said quickly, standing up. Gilbert blinked up at him.

"I'm the one negotiating here, you're close to our land!" Gilbert snapped.

"We're on the border, which is neutral territory," the Cat said. "If I were in your land, that would have been different. Too bad. Come with me, you have my word that you won't get killed."

"Like a Cat's word is worth anything," Gilbert said. He stood up for the mere purpose of feeling more in charge, as he noticed that the Cat was definitely shorter than him. There, he had another upper hand.

"Please," the Cat said quietly. "I just need you to see this. That's the only reason I came out here, to find another Dog to bring over. We just want peace, trust me. The people that left haven't come back because they're happy. They only didn't come back to tell you out of the sure chance that they would get killed the second you saw a shadow."

"Then why the hell are Cats brave enough to do it?" Gilbert narrowed his eyes at him.

"We have better reflexes, it just comes naturally," the Cat sighed. "Please. Just…just a short walk over there. You cared enough to help me instead of kill me. I know you aren't a mean person. Please."

"Stop begging," Gilbert scoffed. "I'll go with you," Gilbert mumbled. His mind was screaming at him for making such a bad decision, but his instincts? They were telling him to go right where the Cat was trying to go. His instincts had gotten him on many a right path in the past. Maybe this would be the case, but he would still be on high alert. Now, if he had been a good Wolf, like he was told, he wouldn't have bothered with this Cat, just watched him die. It was a shame he wasn't normal. "But I'm keeping a careful eye on you."

"Yes, thank you, thank you so much," the Cat smiled. "I-I'm Matthew, by the way. Yes, even though we're Cat's we still have names like you do."

"Gilbert."

"Okay," Matthew took a deep breath. "Thank you." He took a few careful steps out, further into the border. Gilbert glanced back at the Dog territory. There really was no one he was leaving behind. He had acquaintances, but the only person he was really ever close to was Ludwig, and there was a chance he was with the Cats, as much as that made his skin crawl. He would go along with this for now. Any funny business, and he wouldn't hesitate to go Feral.

* * *

Matthew barely contained his laughter and Gilbert smirked, rolling his eyes. It took a while to walk a mile and so they took to talking after a few minutes of silence. Gilbert's jokes were apparently more than enough to make Matthew laugh, which was strangely nice to hear coming from the Cat. They were close to Cat territory now, but Gilbert was surprised when he saw that there were no guards waiting to kill them. A few people were walking about, but they seemed calm as day.

A little bird cheeped and flew by. Matthew's pupils immediately widened and he batted at it with his hand. Gilbert couldn't help but smile, it was freaking adorable. Matthew let out a low purr as he continued to catch the bird, but it soon flew away. Then Matthew got a good look at Gilbert and flushed before a bright red dusted his cheeks.

"D-Don't look at me like that!" Matthew protested. "Don't tell me you never chase your tail."

"I haven't done that since I was 10," Gilbert scoffed. Sure, most kids stopped chasing their tales when they were 6 or 7, but Gilbert was more awesome than them, what could he say?

The dumbfounded look on Matthew's face told Gilbert he'd made a mistake spilling that kind of information. "You guys really chase your tails?"

"So what?" Gilbert crossed his arms over his chest. "It's good exercise and gives you something to do when you're bored! I think it's a fucking great idea, thank you very much!"

"Well, you're the Dog, here," Matthew chuckled and Gilbert half-heartedly glared at him.

"Which makes me the more awesome one," Gilbert said proudly, but his smirk dropped when he saw how close they really were to Cat territory. Gilbert immediately stopped in his tracks, staring at the large territory, something he'd never seen before. No one ever came out of there to come back to Dog territory. His instincts were telling him to take the final few steps, like Matthew had already done. The Cat blinked back at him in confusion. Gilbert's hesitation was due to the fact that his mind was screaming at him to run. Run as fast as he could in the opposite direction. Despite that fact, Gilbert took a hesitant step forward, followed by another. One more step and he was in there. A traitor to the Dogs and all that the Wolves fought to protect.

The second Gilbert stepped over the threshold…nothing happened. He looked around, expecting to be attacked by Cats or something to kill him, but it was calm. Matthew gave him a reassuring smile.

"MATTIE!" someone suddenly screaming, pushing past Gilbert and tackle hugging Matthew. Gilbert easily recognized him by the smell as a Cat and looked at him carefully, his mind going haywire. He was bigger than Matthew, maybe even a little bigger than Gilbert. Maybe even stronger, but he'd never admit that out loud. "I told you you shouldn't have gone, you could have gotten hurt and then what would we do and I was so worried, do you know how long I've been looking for you, you're so stupid going over to Dog territory like that, what if you got killed like some of the others, I agree with Arthur and the council, we should just give up on getting the dogs over here and…" the Cat stopped to breathe before carefully examining Gilbert. He stiffened and a few of his hairs stood on end. "Who is this?"

"This is Gilbert," Matthew said slowly. "He's a Dog. Gil, this is Alfred, my brother."

"Hey," Gilbert mumbled out while Alfred carefully examined him, coming close to sniff him, too. Gilbert would never stoop so low as to smell a cat, not like he wanted the odor anywhere near him…

"Hey," Alfred mumbled, standing about a foot away from him, apparently deeming him worthy enough to talk to.

"See? I told you!" another new voice chimed excitedly behind him. Gilbert swiftly turned around to see that there was now a small crowd near them, nearly all Cats, led by a particularly small Cat that looked very…happy. One person, though, did sap all of Gilbert's attention. A certain Dog that he recognized very clearly, having filled his nightmares and dreams since the day he had left.

"Ludwig?" Gilbert took a small, tentative step forward, before he ran right for his bigger (yet younger) brother and pull him into a hug. He felt on the verge of crying, maybe this was what his instincts were dragging him to. Oh, he didn't care anymore. "I thought you were dead for so long."

"Gilbert," Ludwig mumbled, hugging him back. "I'm sorry. I should have come to find you, but I would have been killed if they even spotted me. I couldn't risk that."

"I understand," Gilbert mumbled, taking a step back. The smile refused to leave his face. His mind didn't seem to care anymore that he was in enemy territory. Besides, Ludwig seemed perfectly relaxed surrounded by Cats, like he was used to them. "What the hell is going on here?"

"I was trying to tell you when we first met," Matthew sighed and Gilbert twirled around to look at him. "We want peace, we don't want this weird border and people to kill each other. Any Dog that's come here has been in our care. This fighting is stupid. I don't care whether you're a Dog or a Cat. No one here really does."

"That'll take some getting used to," Gilbert mumbled, but looked back at his brother and then at Matthew, a Cat he had learned to actually like before he realized it. They were easier to get along with than he originally assumed.

"So your Luddie's brother?" the Cat that had lead the others there asked excitedly. He had this odd little curl in his hair that piqued Gilbert's interest. "I'm Feli! Ludwig's talked all about you and it's great to finally see you! Wow, your tail is really pretty and your ears! They're so soft!" Before Gilbert knew it, he was kneeling down slightly so Feli could get a better look at his ears. It tickled a little, with the Cat touching them, but he didn't mind. It also felt a little nice. The last person to pet his ears was his mother, but that was a while ago, before he even stopped chasing his tail.

"Thanks," Gilbert chuckled, backing away slightly after a while. Alfred and gone to talk to some of the other Cats, eyeing Gilbert suspiciously. So much for not wanting fighting…

"Thank you for coming," Matthew said again and Gilbert looked back at him. "You didn't look very happy when you looked back at your old territory, so I figured you'd be happier here. And it looks like I'm already right. When you give a really true smile, it looks very good."

"Thanks," Gilbert nodded to him. He noticed Matthew was smiling as well and he looked rather adorable. "You, too."

"Thank you," Matthew mumbled, blushing slightly once again.

* * *

**So, technically, the prompt was Wearing Animal Ears, but I like this idea way better. I think it's adorable! I don't know a lot about this whole world and if I think too much about it, ti'll become a story plot, which is why I have such a problem with one-shots in the first place. Which is why I'm doing this. Anyway, I may get back to this AU or I might not. I might change it completely or I might just not do it, I have no idea. In any case, enjoy what it is now!**

**And review, it's nice!**

**Join me next time for the challenge, Wearing Kigurumis, titled "A Little Warm".**


	11. A Little Warm

Day 11 Challenge: Wearing Kigurumis

Title: "A Little Warm"

Enjoy!

* * *

"How did you find that?" Canada asked curiously, staring at Prussia, who stood proudly in the door in front of him.

"Don't ask questions about my awesomeness," Prussia said proudly, hands placed securely on his hips, though it looked pretty hilarious with what he had on. Prussia eyed Canada and nodded in approval. "You look good, too, Birdie."

"Thanks, I guess," Canada chuckled, shaking his head. He stood from the bed he'd been previously lying on to walk up to Prussia. "Are you ready to go, then?"

"Well, put up your hood," Prussia snickered, pulling up the hood for Canada to complete the outfit that America demanded they all wear. This wasn't like any normal pajama party, ever since he found out that these whole body animal suits existed. Canada had decided to go for a polar bear and Prussia had gone for the…interesting choice of a little yellow bird, just like Gilbird.

"Thank you," Canada laughed. "Now I look exactly like Kumakiri."

"You seriously need to remember what the hell you named your bear," Prussia laughed. "Kumajirou."

"It's just a little hard to remember, is all," Canada mumbled.

"I remember my bird's name," Prussia said proudly. "My awesome little Gilbird can't be forgotten." Canada laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, we should get going," Canada said as he walked past Prussia, who was standing in the door of the bedroom of the small apartment that they shared. The only nice thing that came out of Prussia no longer being a country was that he didn't have to be anywhere, which meant he could be anywhere, even Canada. "America would be crushed if we didn't turn up to his big pajama party."

"Yeah," Prussia snorted. "We wouldn't want him to miss out on a chance to ignore you."

"He doesn't ignore me," Canada rolled his eyes, happy to see that Prussia was actually following him. He usually had to drag him around in order for him to get to where he was supposed to be on time. "Are you actually going to comply and get somewhere on time?" he decided to chance asking Prussia about it.

"Oh, definitely not," Prussia smirked. "I just have a different plan than usual today."

"Should I be concerned?" Canada asked.

"Not really," Prussia shrugged smugly and Canada carefully turned around to go to his front door. Whenever Prussia got a new plan in his head, it was generally something to be afraid of. But France and Spain weren't here, which meant that it wouldn't be as bad as it could be. Then again, Canada was always an optimist. Just as he was about to reach for the door handle, his keys securely in his hand, Prussia leaned _very_ close to him and lightly bit down on his neck. Canada jumped, dropping his keys and swiftly turned around to the smirking Prussian behind him.

"What are you doing?" Canada's voice squeaked, but it always did that when he was nervous. He felt his face heat up and that just seemed to egg Prussia on further.

"Going through with my plan," Prussia smirked before capturing Canada's lips in a very strong kiss. Canada squeaked once again, but didn't quite mind kissing him back. Prussia easily threaded his fingers through Canada's hair, going underneath the hood of his outfit. One great part about being a nation was that they could hold their breaths longer than a normal human and so were able to stay like they were for quite some time. When they did separate, Prussia was smirking and Canada raised an eyebrow.

"Are you trying to distract me?" Canada asked.

"Is it working?" Prussia asked with a knowing smirk. He knew full well that it was working. Canada had even forgotten about the keys on the ground…It wouldn't kill them to miss one of America's parties. Canada could deal with the panicked voice mails about him being carried off by ghosts or whatever other reason America could come up with for their absence later.

"Maybe," Canada mumbled. Prussia immediately kissed him again but this one was different. A little more needy this time and a lot more heated. Hands attempted to roam, but they were just met by their odd outfits. "Is it getting a little hot in here, or is it just me?"

"It's a little hot," Prussia shrugged before leaving a hickey on Canada's collarbone, thoroughly distracting the Canadian, if his job hadn't already been accomplished. "Maybe we should take off these warm clothes."

"Seems like a good idea," Canada panted slightly.

In a matter of under a minute, the two had left the front door and returned to the bedroom, very quick to take off the clothing that they were slowly forgetting why they had on in the first place.

* * *

**Was this one short, too? My bad, there. Honestly, this one had me a little stumped, which is why it's a little shorter than even my shortest one. In any case, it's done, I'm happy. It's a little cute. I like to think America gets paranoid whenever he invites people and they don't show up, to the point where he'll think of reasons why they left. Perfectly reasonable ones, mind you, like getting abducted by aliens or carried off by ghosts. He's realistic, naturally.**

**Anyway, please review! And join me soon for the next challenge, Making Out (which is a little similar to this), titled "Spell".**


	12. Spell

Day 12 Challenge: Making Out

Title: "Spell"

Enjoy!

* * *

"We need to do something," Francis mused to his friend beside him, Antonio. They were in potions class, not paying attention to the lecture. Rather, they were paying rather close attention to their other friend and who he was sitting next to. Gilbert and Matthew. At first, the two would have never even seen each other, just go about their days, but then the professor had them partner up and that had been that. Francis could tell that they had hit it off and it was growing more obvious by the day that they both had feelings for each other. Sadly, Gilbert was too much of a brute to admit something like love and Matthew was too shy to do anything.

"What do you suggest?" Antonio asked boredly, grateful for the distraction from class. Francis hummed in thought, placing his head in his hand while he stared at the two. Gilbert was distracting Matthew, forcing the cute, little, blonde to fight back laughter.

"There is a love potion, oui?" Francis asked and Antonio nodded.

"Wait, are you seriously thinking about doing that?" Antonio whispered, eyes wide.

"I would do it for a friend," Francis nodded. "And for the sake of the love that they obviously have."

"Do you realize what Gilbert will do once he finds out we basically drugged him with a potion?" Antonio asked.

"He should be thanking us for giving him the boy of his dreams," Francis sighed theatrically. "But I do see your point. Perhaps we could make it and leave it to some other poor soul to give it to him."

"Hmm…" Antonio thought for a while before he grew a bright smile. "Arthur should do it. After all, he was so kind as to light your hair on fire the other day."

"Trés bien," Francis nodded happily. It was only a part of their little rivalry with the Brit, whose magic was a bit too strong for him to control very well. He would "accidentally" cast spells on the Trio all of the time and they would, in turn, find ways to sabotage him. None of them knew who actually started this circle, but it wasn't about to end anytime soon.

"Mr. Carriedo, Mr. Bonnefoy," the professor immediately pulled their attention to the class at hand. "Would you be so kind as to repeat what I just said?" The two young wizards were left without words as they sheepishly faced their class and the snickers given to them by kids in other houses. "10 points from Slytherin." The two grumbled and paid attention to the lesson, Gilbert obviously held back his roaring laughter. It was a wonder to the world how someone like him managed to get into Gryffindor.

* * *

Matthew was quiet and awkward and shy, so he had no idea why Gilbert had decided it would be a good idea to sneak him out of the Hufflepuff dorms and into the Slytherin dorms to drink with a few of his friends and Arthur, someone Matthew honestly didn't expect to see there at all, though he did know that Arthur had a past drinking with the infamous Bad Touch Trio. Matthew didn't drink, despite the 6th years around him seeming to have no problem with it. They laughed and joked around and went to the practiced hiding places when they heard someone coming close.

"So, lad, you're a 5th year?" Arthur asked, slumping next to him. It was an odd sight to see him so close to liquor and yet not completely drunk. Maybe he was actually showing self-control that night, unlike the other three, who didn't seem to have a care in the world.

"Um, yes," Matthew nodded, speaking quietly.

"I could tell due to your boisterous twin brother," Arthur rolled his eyes. "He may be good at Quiddich, but he's still an obnoxious prat."

"I actually get that a lot," Matthew laughed slightly. Then again, a lot of it was people confusing him for Alfred, despite their completely different houses, and yelling at him or attempting to cause him harm. But he was used to that. And it strangely started happening less after Gilbert had found out about it happening.

"So, I'm going to be straight with you," Arthur sighed, holding a cup of something that honestly looked more like a potion than an alcoholic drink. "Two thirds of that annoying as hell Trio have decided to blackmail me."

"Does this have something to do with that picture they got of you wearing only an-"

"Yes, and they said no one saw that," Arthur groaned. "In any case, their terms are that I gave a love potion to Gilbert and you."

"What?" Matthew squeaked slightly, his face burning with a blush. Sure, he had a lot of respect for Gilbert and really liked to hang out with him outside of their only shared class (since those three apparently got held back due to something Matthew was honestly afraid to find out about) and he had a good time around the albino, but…

"Don't worry, lad," Arthur chuckled slightly. "This potion only strengthens feelings that are already there. Those two seem intent on the fact that both of you are in love with each other, which could very honestly be a possibility. In any case, if you don't have feelings for him, nothing will happen, savvy?"

"You want me to drink that?" Matthew asked quietly and Arthur nodded. "And if I have feelings for him?"

"Then the only thing that will happen is something you most likely won't regret," Arthur said. "It's not even a question on if that idiot likes you back, either. He very obviously does, though I can understand why you wouldn't notice. He's already drank it, I managed to slip it into a drink of his and he didn't even notice, the dolt."

"He likes me?" Matthew mumbled. Arthur nodded again, the potion still in his hand. Matthew bit his lip, staring at it for a while. Nothing bad could really happen… right? There would really be no harm in any of this, so he should just be able to do it and see what happens, right? He bit his lip and quickly, before he could stop himself, picked up the small cup holding the potion and drank it. It wasn't exactly the best taste, but he got over it quickly, swallowing the thick liquid and looking at Arthur who nodded.

"Thank God, now I'm done with this," Arthur sighed, standing up to move off to the side. Even he knew that there was no chance of him getting back to his original dorm without getting caught without the help of the Trio, who were masters at sneaking around.

Matthew carefully turned around, back to Gilbert, who was making his way over to Matthew. He didn't smell too much like alcohol, which was a good thing, but he did suddenly look a lot more…attractive.

"Oi, Birdie," Gilbert smirked proudly and Matthew's blush grew a lot deeper. "I wanna try something, what about you?"

"Um, like what?" Matthew asked shyly, very much noticing the snickers of Francis and Antonio while they watched the scene from where they sat comfortably. Gilbert first took note to see if he could hear anyone coming close before he leaned close and did something that Matthew was honestly thinking about doing if Gilbert hadn't hurried up about it.

Gilbert had pulled him forward just slightly by Matthew's shirt and pressed their lips together. As if there was some kind of spark, Matthew quickly reacted by securely placing both of his hands on the back of Gilbert's head, lacing his hands in his white hair and deepened the kiss. Gilbert asked for entrance first and Matthew gratefully allowed it, enjoying the feeling of the expert tongue exploring his mouth. Gilbert smirked slightly into the kiss, roving his hands down Matthew's shirt only to go under it and move back up, cold fingers on hot skin making Matthew gasp slightly. Both had completely forgotten about any company around them.

Gilbert separated their kiss only to place a few others down Matthew's neck, meanwhile easily slipping off Matthew's shirt. Matthew swiftly followed his example, able to easily take off Gilbert's shirt, tracing some of Gilbert's toned chest before he grew slightly distracted when Gilbert loosely held onto the hem of Matthew's pants.

"Mind if we take these off, too?" Gilbert smirked, kissing Matthew once again, breathlessly.

"Not at all," Matthew didn't even hesitate. He would look back on that moment in about a day's time and realize that it was probably the best decision he had ever made.

Meanwhile, the other three had stepped out of the room, Arthur rolling his eyes at the nonsense while Francis and Antonio barely contained their laughter in order to keep themselves from getting caught.

"That escalated rather quickly," Francis snickered. "I do hope they can keep quiet for their own sake."

* * *

**My guess is that they had a lot of pent up sexual frustration for each other and were able to get it out fairly quickly. Now, this was Pottertalia, but to all Harry Potter fans out there, I don't know a lot about it, like spells and potions and such. I've read a fic in the past with a potion extremely similar to the one I came up with, so I hope it works. If it doesn't, please don't kill me, I come in peace. Anyway, we got two one-shots of fanservice in a row, so let's see if we can keep it going!**

**Please review. It's very nice of you.**

**And join me next time for the next Challenge, Eating Ice Cream, titled "Boy Scouts."**


	13. Boy Scouts

Day 13 Challenge: Eating Ice Cream

Title: "Boy Scouts"

Enjoy!

* * *

Matthew was quiet, sitting at a table alone with his ice cream. All of the other kids were laughing with each other while the adults who gave them the ice cream were standing at the back of the shop, watching over them to make sure they didn't get out of control. This was a sort of congratulations because all of them had earned that new badge. It had been hard for Matthew, since he's not the most athletic, but he didn't allow himself to be held back. Even if he had to use his inhaler a few times. A lot of times…

"Hey." Matthew blinked at the voice and looked up to see another kid from their troop standing in front of him with his own bowl of ice cream in hand. Matthew knew him because he was weird and a few other boys made fun of him. He had white hair like an old man and really weird red eyes that he didn't quite understand.

"Hi," Matthew nodded to the other boy.

"My name's Gilbert!" the boy said proudly. "I'm 8 and a half!"

"Matthew," came the shy reply. Matthew wasn't really used to having long conversations with anyone but his brother and his parents, but he would never tell anyone in that troop that he really had two fathers. Usually, it was Arthur that came to pick him up (with Alfred in the back seat, complaining how he got kicked out for reasons Matthew's fathers told him he couldn't talk about), but Francis came by once and everyone else confused him for a girl, so Matthew decided to keep it that way. He didn't want to get made fun of, after all. "8."

"What are ya doing all alone?" Gilbert asked with a slight tilt of his head.

"No one really sat with me and I didn't really sit with them," Matthew shrugged.

"Then I'm gonna sit with you!" Gilbert said proudly, plopping down in the seat across from him, proudly placing his strawberry ice cream on the table, right across from Matthew's bowl of maple ice cream. "What kind of ice cream did you get?"

"Maple," Matthew said.

"Here, let me try it," Gilbert didn't even hesitate to reach over with his spoon and take some of the ice cream. Matthew blinked for a while, not sure what he should do. Gilbert seemed to be enjoying his spoonful and Matthew did the first thing that came to his mind. He reached over to take a spoonful of Gilbert's ice cream. The kid didn't even seem to mind, admiring the taste of the maple ice cream. Matthew had to admit that the strawberry was pretty good, too. "Hey, I've got an idea."

The boy stood up and sauntered over to the counter, talking to the adult, which was rather brave in Matthew's opinion. In no time, he got a bigger bowl and walked back to their table, placing it between their bowls of ice cream. Without even asking, he grabbed Matthew's ice cream and used his spoon to put it into the bowl and then put the strawberry ice cream in as well. Matthew watched in fascination as Gilbert used both spoons to mix the ice cream together.

"Are you sure about this?" Matthew asked and Gilbert stopped to look up at him.

"Of course I am!" Gilbert announced, continuing happily. "This is gonna be awesome! That's my favorite word, by the way. What's your favorite word?"

"Don't have one," Matthew shook his head.

"What?" Gilbert stared at him. "That's so no cool! You gotta have a favorite word!"

"Well, I don't," Matthew shrugged.

"We'll get you one, don't worry," Gilbert nodded to him before continuing to stir the flavors together. After he deemed it worthy, he used his spoon to take a spoonful and took a taste. "Awesome! Try it!"

Matthew carefully took the other spoon and took a very small amount of ice cream before placing it in his mouth. It was definitely weird, but it wasn't bad. He tried it again, this time with more ice cream. His favorite flavor was still there, but just slightly advanced by the strawberry. The more he had of it, the better it tasted.

"It's good," Matthew smiled at Gilbert, who nodded proudly.

"Of course it is!" Gilbert boasted, feasting on more of the food. "It's made of two awesome flavors! I like maple, too. It's sweet."

"I think this is my new favorite flavor," Matthew decided to chance saying what was on his mind. Gilbert nodded in agreement and the two were able to quickly finish off their now shared ice cream. Matthew had already forgotten about the other boys, about the adults watching. All that he really cared about was eating ice cream with Gilbert. It was actually nice. It was pretty much the first time since he started boy scouts that he enjoyed himself.

But, suddenly, the moment ended. The adults decided it was time to go and the rest of the troop happily complied, rowdily cleaning up their mess. The two kids that sat alone, however, didn't really want it to end. They slowly stood up and Gilbert picked up the three empty bowls. Matthew was honestly a little sad to see the moment end, but he knew it couldn't last forever.

Gilbert stood in front of him and took a deep breath before quickly kissing his cheek. Matthew blinked at him in confusion, not quite understanding why Gilbert would do something like that.

"What was that?" Matthew asked.

"My parents told me that if I met someone I really liked, I should kiss them," Gilbert said resolutely. "So that's what I did."

"I like you, too," Matthew nodded and mustered up all of his courage before kissing Gilbert's cheek as well. "You're going to the next meeting, right?"

"Nothing can stop me," Gilbert said.

Matthew nodded and they quickly followed the rest of the troop out of the door, following the adults. Matthew didn't quite know it then, but he would look back on that day many years in the future and thank his luck that he managed to share ice cream with the greatest guy he had ever met.

* * *

**Watching Doctor Who makes me cheesy, but oh well, it's a good kind of cheesy. Immediately when I thought of this, it made me smile. Little kids are so much fun, especially when you can dance around the idea of love so easily and they don't even care. And there was a dash of FACE family because they're cute too. Anywho, they're adorable as kids, end of story.**

**Please review.**

**And join me for tomorrow's challenge, Genderbent, titled "Pet Names."**


	14. Pet Names

Day 14 Challenge: Genderbent

Title: "Pet Names"

Enjoy!

* * *

Madeline was honestly terrified. It had just been a normal, calm day. She was simply walking around her little town, getting something for her sister. That was when they attacked. Pirates. It was rare to see an all-female crew, but they weren't any less ruthless than a normal crew. They attacked without mercy, killing plenty of people and ransacking anything they could see. In all of the panic, Madeline managed to run into a woman who seemed to be the captain, who seemed to have taken a shine to her and took her without a second thought.

And that was how they got to where they were at that moment, Madeline stunned and sitting on a bed of a rocking ship, her golden hair barely still tied back and her dress a dirty mess, blue eyes carefully looking at the captain that stood in front of the door, easily standing, despite the rocking of the ship. She certainly looked different, with very long silver (not white or gray) hair and fiery red eyes. She was dressed opulently, no doubt in a coat she stole from a person of the law. Suddenly, the pirate moved and Madeline jumped involuntarily. The pirate didn't seem to mind as she dragged a chair over, beside the bed, spun in around and plopped on it so that the back of the chair was between her legs.

"So," the pirate said chipperly. Her voice was incredibly sweet, but was laced with danger. "What is your name, girlie?" Madeline bit her bottom lip, choosing not to say anything. This pirate liked her and she could use that to her advantage for as long as possible. "Not gonna talk, huh?" The pirate smirked before swiftly standing up and didn't hesitate to tightly grip Madeline's neck, to the point where she almost didn't get air. "What about now?"

"No," Madeline whispered out and the pirate blinked at her before growing a wicked smirk.

"I like the way your voice sounds," the pirate smiled and just barely released Madeline's neck, keeping a steady hand around the soft skin. Her hands were very calloused, but that no doubt came from being constantly on the ocean. "Name."

"No," Madeline repeated herself and the pirate scowled. But, she released Madeline to plop back down onto her chair. She looked over Madeline carefully before nodding to herself.

"Then you don't get to know my name," the pirate shrugged. Madeline nodded. She didn't care to know the name of the pirate in front of her. She just had to hope that Amelia was safe, would notice Madeline was gone, and alert someone. She would be saved yet, she just had to be patient. "I'll give you a nickname, then…How does Blondie sound for now?" Madeline stayed quiet and the pirate's eyes narrowed slightly at her. "Gimme a name, too." Madeline just shook her head. "Look, we can go through this the easy way or the hard way. Hard way…for you at least, they're both easy for me, is that I have you on that bed right now, whether or not you like it, and you'll be screaming the first name that comes to mind. Easy way is that you gimme a name now and we can play this game until I get tired of it and demand a name from you. Which one do you want?"

"Silver," Madeline slipped out the first thing that came to mind. The pirate raised an eyebrow and blinked, but nodded in approval.

"Good," she smirked, leaning forward. "Bad luck for me, though, you're so adorable, I'd love to have you right now."

"Please…don't," Madeline chanced saying, shaking her head. Silver tilted her head slightly before laughing. She nearly fell back in her chair, tilting her head back as she continued to laugh.

"Oh, God, don't worry, I won't," Silver continued to cackle and Madeline blushed slightly. "I like you, Blondie, which is why I won't." She swiftly stood up and stretched her arms over her head. "You just be a good little girl and nothing'll happen. Just don't get close to Francesca. She knows your mine, but she's a bit of a flirt, if you know what I mean."

"But I don't…" Madeline stopped herself before she said anything stupid. She wasn't gay, but Silver talked about it like she knew Madeline was.

"Swing that way?" Silver smirked. "Don't worry, you'll be sleeping right in here with me," she swiftly walked over to the door of her cabin and opened it with a flourish. "After a while of seeing me naked, you'll be swinging that way in no time."

* * *

The next day, Madeline decided to brave going onto the deck of the ship. The ocean all around her was beautiful, but she was still very scared. All around her were these strong, terrifying pirates that plowed right past her to continue on with their work. A lot of them didn't even spare her a glance, despite her making sure for about an hour in front of their captain's mirror that she looked better than she did the day before.

"Oi!" the pirate captain chimed and Madeline looked around to find her, but couldn't see anything. All of a sudden, she jumped down front the sails and landed right in front of Madeline, who stumbled back and squealed in surprise. The pirate burst out laughing, holding onto her stomach. "Oh, that was priceless, Red!"

"Red?" Madeline asked, quickly trying to compose herself in front of the pirate.

"It's your new, awesome nickname!" the pirate said proudly. "I got the idea after seeing your blush, you get really red!"

Madeline bit her lip in thought for a moment before she came up with something to say. "Thief."

"Is that my new name?" the pirate asked with a raised eyebrow. "Gotta say I would prefer something more creative, but whatever works for you."

"Where are we?" Madeline chanced to ask. Thief hummed and swiftly turned around and stared at the ocean for a while.

"No idea," she smirked, twirling back around. "That's the fun part about this. After we do something like this we decide to get lost. I think we'll end up in America, but that's just a guess of mine."

"Why get lost?" Madeline asked.

"It's fun," Thief smirked. "Why not get lost?"

"Right," Madeline said slowly.

"Well, Red," Thief said, turning Madeline around by her shoulders and leading her back to her cabin, "I would love to see your face all day, but we're busy, you'll just get in the way, and it's dangerous. I can't have your pretty face enter the ocean, now can I? So please do stay in our room." Without giving Madeline a chance to speak, she shoved her into their now shared cabin and slammed the door shut.

Madeline huffed, oddly annoyed with such a thing happening to her.

"I have a name for you tomorrow," Madeline said, marching over to the bed where she planted herself simply. "Brat."

* * *

"Darling."

"Soft."

The pirate captain stopped dead in her tracks and Madeline smirked, glancing back at her. It had been a few days, a few nicknames had passed. And Madeline had come up with her newest name on a whim in the middle of the night. It worked just as she wanted it to when she ran across the captain the next day. Madeline decidedly ignored the captain telling her to stay put and left the cabin often, so much so that Soft never really looked at her twice anymore. Except for this time.

"Are you calling me soft?" she asked, walking close to Madeline, who simply nodded.

"Did you call me Darling?" Madeline asked.

"Yes," Soft said simply, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not soft! Gimme a new name!"

"It's my decision," Madeline shrugged. "You've never complained in the past. I'm keeping it. I think it suits you quite well."

"No way," Soft whined. "I'm your captain and what I say is law! Gimme a new name!"

"Needy," Madeline shrugged.

"No, gimme a real name," Needy scoffed.

"I like that one, too," Madeline giggled.

"Come on, Darling!" Needy whined, following Madeline as she attempted to walk away. "Gimme something awesome! Like Shark or Pillage! I'm a tough pirate! I can't be called Needy or Soft!"

"And it's fine if you call me Darling?" Madeline laughed.

"Yes," Needy nodded.

"Cute," Madeline chanced and the pirate captain raised an eyebrow.

"Are you serious right now?" Cute asked and Madeline nodded. "You're serious. Please, give me something good or I might jump the plank."

"Desperate," Madeline shrugged. "I'm giving you good ones, take your pick."

"So help me, girlie," Desperate pointed at her, standing in front of her and trying to look intimidating, but Madeline had gotten used to her, she knew she wasn't intimidating with Madeline. With other people in her crew, sure, when she was talking about the Navy of whatever country, sure, but never with Madeline. "Gimme a good name."

"Gorgeous," Madeline mumbled before quickly ducking around the pirate captain and slamming the door of their cabin closed, blush very, very obvious on her face, despite the sunburn and the salt water that scratched her face raw. "Why did I do that?"

* * *

Madeline perched on the bed, watching the pirate captain in front of her carefully. She was pacing, she was nervous, she was breathing heavily. Suddenly, the pirate captain stopped and turned around to face Madeline. They locked eyes for a second before the pirate captain quickly walked up to her and placed her hands on the bed on either side of Madeline, leaning forward slightly.

"Julchen," she said carefully and Madeline raised an eyebrow.

"Is that-"

"My name," she mumbled. "I like to be called Jules. Because it sounds like 'jewels'."

"You can't be nervous," Madeline shook her head. "You're never nervous. It's just the Navy."

"It's a lot of the Navy," Julchen grumbled. "A lot…of the Navy. I don't want you to get hurt. If we fight, you're going to get hurt."

"Don't just give up because I'm here," Madeline shook her head even more. She had no idea why she was rooting for a pirate over the Navy, something that could easily save her from her kidnapping, but she was, nevertheless. She was attached to this pirate captain, for whatever reason. "I can handle myself. Fight, don't just give up!"

"You could get hurt," Julchen repeated herself. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happened."

"I'm not giving you my name until we're both safe," Madeline said resolutely.

"Stubborn," Julchen laughed slightly before turning back to the door. "That'll be your name until next time."

"Give me something better," Madeline shook her head. She could try to stand up and stop the pirate, but Julchen was stronger than her, and she was simply determined to do this, to give herself up so that Madeline could be safe.

"Birdie," Julchen smirked, leaving the room with a saunter that showed all of the self-confidence she was feigning so well. Madeline sighed, watching after her as she walked. She wasn't about to let this go, she was already coming up with a plan to help out the captain, no matter what it took.

* * *

Madeline was able to hide comfortably in the crowd that was surrounding the gallows as she smoothed out the last of her plan. The crowd was incredibly happy, cheering and applauding the criminals that had been sent to their deaths. They didn't even seem to have a problem when it was a woman who walked up next. Madeline immediately started her plan and weaved easily through the crowd. She was generally good at not being noticed, except, apparently, by Julchen, who was standing proudly, against all odds, on the stage she was forced to stand.

Madeline ran to the other end of the square, away from the stage and stood, slightly more elevated than the majority of the crowd. They managed to squeeze into any space possible just to watch the show and Madeline sighed, quickly pulling out the pistol she had managed to hide in her dress, something she had found in Julchen's cabin before she was "rescued" by the Navy. But she had ran away, refusing to return home. Ran all the way here. She pointed the gun up and shot as many shots as she had the guts to fire. Everyone's attention turned towards her, including the Navy, but Madeline looked right at the person just seconds from being hanged, Julchen, and nodded.

The pirate captain immediately made a run for it and Madeline fired in the general direction of the closest man of the Navy that tried to drag her back. The crowd basically erupted into chaos and Madeline took that as her chance to disappear again, following after Julchen, who had managed to disappear as well. Madeline roughly pushed past anyone that got in her way as she raced to find the pirate captain.

Suddenly, though, someone gripped hard onto Madeline's arm and yanked her to the side, under a small part of the fort that overhung and stared into the deep red eyes in front of her.

"Oh, my God! I love you!" Julchen shouted happily and Madeline dropped the pistol before quickly hugging Julchen as hard as she could.

"Madeline!" she shouted over the crowd and Julchen pulled back to stare at her. "But I like to be called Maddie!"

"Well, then, Maddie," Julchen smirked. "What do you want to do now?"

* * *

**Originally, it was just supposed to be a kidnapping, but then I was bored at work one day and then I came up with the pet name idea and I loved it. It's definitely something they would do. I don't genderbend often, but I find that I don't really mind it. Their personalities change slightly and I'm very lucky that I'm at least a little familiar with Julchen and Maddie's personalities, considering my limited internet access.**

**Anyway, I'm done rambling, please review!**

**And join me next time for the next challenge, Different Clothing Style, titled "Festival".**


	15. Festival

Day 15 Challenge: In A Different Clothing Style

Title: "Festival"

Enjoy!

* * *

"Why me?" Matthew grumbled to himself as he paced back and forth. He'd been asking himself that question for the past 10 minutes with nowhere to go and…as embarrassing as it was…in a dress.

To briefly explain this situation, Matthew had been woken up by Francis and Antonio and the crack of dawn (it had really been 10 AM, but it was damn early), forced into a dress by said "friends", forced into the car and driven all the way to the Renaissance Festival that their city was holding, and then blindfolded as soon as they entered the fair grounds. All he knew after that was that they walked a fair distance, went up some stairs, he was shoved into a room, and the door was locked. There was an incredibly small window on the opposite side of the door and it was obviously a very fake tower, but he still couldn't break it to get out. He was a princess in a tower and he could do nothing about it. Knowing Francis and Antonio, he would be stuck until a prince came to save him and Matthew could only think of one person they would choose as his knight in shining armor.

He quickly crossed to the other side of the room, silently damning the dress that nearly tripped him several times. Francis could have at least gotten him a dress that was easier to move in. He looked through the small window, where there was music from a lute or something playing and people were just starting to fill the stands. Matthew had heard that Gilbert managed to land a sort of job in this festival, since their usual knight had an injury of some kind and he was perfectly charismatic for the role and good with the children audience that were slowly filling the seats. Gilbert complained a lot about the girl who was usually his princess that he had to save from the tower, claiming that she flirted with him a lot, despite him making sure that she knew he was "flaming gay" as he put it. Matthew should have known that Francis and Antonio would pull a stunt like this.

Finally, after Matthew continued to pace in the room and finally get used to walking in the stupid thing (which was not a very good thing), the show started with obnoxious fanfare. Gilbert appeared on the stage with a flourish, dressed in fairly good looking armor fit for a knight, including a cape that Matthew was sure he played with when not on stage. He trotted around proudly, going through lines that made the kids laugh and, despite how cheesy they were, actually sounded pretty good.

After what felt like an eternity, Gilbert ran for the tower and Matthew heard his footsteps thundering up the stairs. He blushed upon the realization that Gilbert was about to see him in a dress, but this was the only way he could get down, unless he wanted to be found by complete strangers when they decided to pack up and leave, which could be hours or even days.

"Alright, let's get this over…with…" Gilbert stopped as soon as he got a good look into the room. Matthew's blush grew even hotter and he crossed his arms, looking away.

"This is all because of your friends, I hope you realize that," Matthew huffed. Gilbert held back laughter as best as he could, hardly able to bend over properly in his armor.

"Oh, God, this is great!" Gilbert sighed happily. "How much did they fucking pay to get this to happen? So much better than Ashley!"

"You do know you have a show going on down there, right?" Matthew asked and Gilbert nodded slowly, standing upright before holding out a hand.

"Milady?" he almost made it through the whole thing seriously, but broke down into laughter again and Matthew rolled his eyes. "Okay, even if I don't swing that way, I have to say that you look absolutely fantastic as a chick."

"Shut up," Matthew grumbled. "I just want to get this over with so I can go back home and do my homework. I can't just stay like this."

"Yeah, yeah," Gilbert smirked, walking up to him with clanking armor before kissing him softly. "Just follow my lead and don't talk, okay? One good thing that comes out of your girlie looks is that you can pass as a chick."

"That is not a good thing," Matthew rolled his eyes.

"So let's go and you can go home. Or stay and watch more of my shows," Gilbert smirked.

"Maybe," Matthew sighed. He had to admit, he did love to see Gilbert in an outfit like that. He did look very heroic and dashing, but he could admire that when he was out of his dress and into something more comfortable, that a guy would actually wear.

"Awesome," Gilbert nodded before swiftly picking Matthew up bridal style and making his way to the stairs. "Remember, don't talk. Your voice may be girlie but it's not girlie enough to pass as a chick."

"Thank you, that makes me feel so much better," Matthew rolled his eyes and carefully placed both of his hands around Gilbert's neck, making sure to not look at the crowd, but rather at Gilbert's chest. The metal plate that greeted him sort of reflected his face. He didn't look that much like a girl…

"I have saved my beautiful princess!" Gilbert announced proudly and the crowd cheered for him as he bounded across the stage, still not putting Matthew down. He could practically hear the snickers coming from Antonio and Francis, who were most likely in the audience. "I will make sure that no further harm will befall her, as long as I live!" Matthew's blush grew even deeper, despite him thinking that was impossible. "Now, milady," Gilbert quickly placed Matthew down on the stage so that he was standing, though facing slightly away from the crowd. Gilbert bent down on one knee, kissing Matthew's hand. "If you would do me the kindness of repaying me. I only ask for something simple, something close to you, preferably…your heart," he said before he quickly stood up and kissed Matthew on the lips once again. The crowd cheered and the kids chorused in how gross it looked and how they shouldn't do that or they would spread cooties.

The kiss didn't last long before Gilbert took Matthew's left hand in his right, put it up in the air, and bowed. Matthew bowed with him before they quickly turned around to go down the stage and go back behind it.

"Do you normally kiss the girl that does this with you?" Matthew asked him immediately after they were securely hidden from view.

"Stage kiss, Birdie, don't worry about it," Gilbert smirked, messing up Matthew's hair.

"You have quite the guts, mon ami," Francis snickered as he and Antonio came up to them, despite a few people backstage glaring at them. "I would never expect you to just kiss him in public like that!"

"You do make a good girl, though," Antonio laughed. Matthew rolled his eyes and Gilbert smirked at them.

"So, which one of you two wants to be the princess next?" Gilbert said simply and the two quieted down to glance at each other. "All's fair, since the original princess is apparently gone for the day and Birdie can't do it anymore."

"Francis has longer hair!" Antonio announced before swiftly pushing Francis forward and running away. Francis grinned slightly as he recovered before he ran as quickly as he could after Antonio. Matthew giggled at the display and Gilbert nodded proudly to himself.

"I was serious about the princess thing," Gilbert shrugged. "I'll chase down Francis in a little bit. We should find something for you to change into, though. I have the clothes I changed out of when I got here."

"You mean you didn't come to the fair dressed like that on your noble steed?" Matthew laughed.

"I wish they gave me a horse," Gilbert sighed. "That would be so awesome! I'm stuck with having to walk everywhere, milady. I should have asked for a horse instead of your heart."

"I can offer you money for the bus," Matthew laughed. "I am waiting around until you finish all of your shows, after all."

"You are?" Gilbert's eyes widened. "Hell yeah! If that's the case, I want you to get me some mutton. I can't leave this stage, but as soon as we get you changed, you have to go get me mutton!"

"Alright, alright," Matthew laughed. "I would love to change first. Where are your clothes?"

"Do you want me to help you change?" Gilbert asked with a smirk, leading Matthew away.

"Absolutely not," Matthew shook his head.

* * *

**Cuties. This one was hard for me to decide on, in all honesty. It was very open, but there's another one that's even more open, oh, my God. Anyway, I liked this idea, so I rolled with it. I normally don't have dudes wearing dresses, but this one instance called for it, I think. Wonderfully done, Gilbert, you're very smooth.**

**Anywho, please review! It's very kind!**

**And join me tomorrow for challenge 16, During Their Morning Ritual, titled "Batter" (because what is PruCan without pancakes?)**


	16. Batter

Day 16 Challenge: During Their Morning Ritual

Title: "Batter"

Enjoy!

* * *

Prussia couldn't stop himself from smiling from his place on the bed when he smelled the familiar scent wafting through the house. Sure, he was a little disappointed, his little Canadian wasn't in bed with him, but he could get over that once he had pancakes in his stomach. Without wasting any time, Prussia was quickly on his feet and realized he was probably still a little too drowsy to get up and stumbled into the bedside table, cursing loudly as he stubbed his toes. He recovered easily enough and left the bedroom, not even caring that he was without a shirt, Canada had seen more of him anyway.

After nearly face planting going down the stairs, Prussia easily made his way to the kitchen, where Canada stood, quietly singing some song in French as he flipped the pancake expertly, having it flip over a few times before it landed perfectly on a plate. Prussia smirked just after Canada poured some more batter onto the stove and quickly wrapped his arms around the smaller male's waist, chin resting on his shoulders. Canada didn't even jump in surprise anymore.

"Hello," Canada hummed to him, glancing at his lover with a soft smile.

"Hallo," Prussia smirked. "You got more syrup since yesterday?"

"Yes," Canada nodded and the two lapsed into a content silence, Prussia watching as Canada absently made pancakes, going back to humming that song in French.

"So," Prussia said after a while, carefully poking his finger into the batter and poking Canada's nose with it. The Canadian crossed his eyes cutely to look at it before focusing back on his work.

"Don't waste batter," Canada mumbled.

"What do you want to do today?" Prussia continued, ignoring Canada's interruption as he licked off the batter that had stayed on his finger. Canada still had yet to rid himself of the batter on his nose.

"I'm okay with doing nothing today," Canada sighed. "I got a lot of work done yesterday, no thanks to your constant distractions."

"Hey, it was a valid question to build a pillow fort!" Prussia protested, though he kept his voice a little quieter than normal, as he always did during mornings. He needed to store up his energy so he could get back to his normal awesomeness by around lunchtime. "We should build one today, since you didn't let me do it yesterday…"

"What will we even do in a pillow fort?" Canada chuckled.

"I can think of a few good ideas," Prussia smirked, now licking off the batter on Canada's nose. Canada turned a bright shade of red at that, but nodded anyway and finally poured the last of the batter. The stack of pancakes was huge, but Canada ate as much as America and Prussia was hungry, so it was just the perfect amount.

"And after that?" Canada asked.

"I came up with one idea, you come up with the other," Prussia rolled his eyes. "Come on, that's how it works, Birdie."

"Right," Canada laughed, a beautiful sound to hear in the morning, way better than those singing birds that attempted to wake Prussia up. It took him a while to get used to Canada's sleeping schedule, getting up so early in the morning, but that sweet voice made it easy. Canada turned around to face Prussia, who kept his arms securely around his small waist. "Let's watch a movie, then."

"Which one?" Prussia asked.

"I don't care," Canada smiled, giving Prussia a quick peck on the lips. No matter how much Prussia tried, he never got used to the feeling of Canada's lips, the electric feeling that came from just a small bit of skin touching. It was absolutely amazing and he hoped that he never got used to it. He wanted each moment to be special. "Just not a horror movie, I still have bruises from America from the last one I saw."

"Sure thing," Prussia smirked and reached behind Canada to grab the pancakes and swiftly walked over to the table, which was already set with utensils, plates, glasses of orange juice, and the all-important Canadian maple syrup. The two sat down, taking just a few pancakes to start before drenching them equally with that liquid gold. The second Prussia tasted the pancakes he groaned happily, going to eat even more. Another thing he never got used to was Canada's fucking awesome cooking. He got that from France or something, he swore, but it was fantastic. His pancakes were never matched anywhere else and Prussia had been to a lot of pancake places. "We should go for a hike today or something."

"That would be nice," Canada nodded, going for a few more pancakes, despite only having his original stack for about a minute. Prussia glanced out the window and looked at the beautiful forest around them. Canada had managed to pull some strings with his boss a while back and landed a house in a national park, as long as he swore to do nothing to harm the environment around him. Canada was more than happy to agree to that and Prussia had been surprised on multiple occasions, seeing the Canadian petting a moose (a fucking moose!) and even helping injured creatures. Prussia wasn't really one to admire nature in the past, but after going on a few walks with Canada in the wilderness, he had to agree that it was awesome.

There was another comfortable silence of both of them simply enjoying the other's presence. Prussia finished his pancakes first, Canada eating more than him, naturally, and he swiftly scooted his chair to be next to Canada. The nation reacted easily, leaning against Prussia when he got close enough and sighing happily as he took the last bite of his plate. The pancakes were entirely gone now, the only evidence of them being there in the first place being the gore of crumbs left behind and the little bits of syrup that Canada had been too lazy to take with the last bite.

Prussia never had mornings like this anywhere else, never with his brother or with anyone else he'd tried a relationship with in the past. It was a fantastic feeling, no pressure, all just completely calm, happy to be quiet in the presence of the other and wanting nothing else from the world. He was perfectly happy with his life in that one moment. He could ignore the fact that he wasn't really a country anymore here because it didn't matter, he could simply not care about the fact that he could disappear any minute, because he was so happy that he didn't mind these being his last moments. Being with Canada just made him…happy. It was a shitty word to describe it, but that was the only word that came to mind. Happy was a nice enough word anyway.

"You know, it's funny," Canada hummed after a while. "No one would ever know that you were capable of being quiet for so long."

And Prussia laughed. Happily.

* * *

**All of the fluff! Oh, my God! The fluff! I wasn't expecting it to be this fluffy, but it happened and I love it! I'm gonna die from the fluff! I was going to gear this a little more towards fanservice, but this was such a beautiful, calm morning moment that I didn't want to ruin it, so I let it happen and it was fantastic to watch this unfold like it did. So cute! Imma die!**

**Anyway, please review!**

**And join me for tomorrow's challenge, Spooning, titled "Action".**


	17. Action

Day 17 Challenge: Spooning

Title: "Action"

Enjoy!

* * *

The room was dark, so as to create the mood. They were playing rock music in the background to try to make it less awkward, but that wasn't really helping. In any case, Matthew managed to control his blush well enough as the man behind him attempted to snuggle closer, fitting perfectly into his role. He was a better actor than Matthew any day, but the man always insisted that Matthew was good as well. One thing Matthew was sure of, however, was that he was never going to trust his agent again. He had said nothing about this being a gay film. Not that he had a problem with gays…being one…but it was still incredibly awkward. He was 90% sure that his co-star was straight, which made this feel even worse.

"Cut!" the director called and Matthew immediately pulled away, sitting upright on the bed in the set they were in. The director, a woman named Elizaveta, went off to complain to lighting about how it needed to look more romantic as the other actor behind Matthew stretched behind him with a small groan.

"Oi, you look a little more nervous than usual, what's up?" the actor, Gilbert, asked and Matthew finally blushed, simply looking ahead instead of back at his co-star.

"Nothing," Matthew mumbled.

"So, are you just naturally quiet and you get louder when you act, or is it the other way around?" Gilbert asked and Matthew could nearly hear his smirk. "Do you just pretend to be quiet?"

Matthew sighed, Gilbert as an actor was incredibly different from the person he was portraying. The character was incredibly soft and loving and would even go so far as to put a jacket on a puddle for his lover. Gilbert the actor, however, was loud and obnoxious and…attractive. But Matthew would never say that out loud.

"I don't pretend to be quiet," Matthew mumbled. "That's the volume I'm comfortable with."

"Yeah, okay," Gilbert snorted and stood up from the bed with a little grunt. "Whatever you say."

And then they stayed quiet, the crew around them rushing to put things where the director wanted them, listening to the rock music in the background. It was a little calming, but it unnerved Matthew to find out what music Elizaveta would be putting in the actual movie. As awkward as it would be, Matthew was sure he would want to see this movie as a final product. The only reason he didn't quit it after he figured out what it really was, was the message behind everything. He supported what the movie was about, Elizaveta knew what she was writing about. Yes, she did double as the writer. One of them, the other writer was a man named Kiku that was apparently too shy to come around the set.

"You wanna get something to eat after this?" Gilbert asked randomly and Matthew immediately twirled around to look at the actor, who just smirked at him. "I mean, I've been meaning to ask for a while. You're gay, too, right? If you're not, I understand, no problems here."

"Sure," the word spilled out of Matthew's mouth without his control. He inwardly hit himself. Okay, yes, he thought that Gilbert was attractive, and he had a mini celebration when he found out that he was gay, but he was professional. If something happened off of the set between the two, this would just get even more awkward, or even worse and he really didn't want to have to deal with that. But he had said yes anyway, because he was an idiot, a complete and utter idiot.

"Sweet," Gilbert smirked. "I get off a little earlier than you since you have that scene with Feli, last I checked. I can pick you up after that. You don't have a car, right?"

"How did you know that?" Matthew asked dumbly.

"You call your brother every day after the shoot," Gilbert laughed. "I can figure shit out on my own, I'm no idiot."

"Could have fooled me," Matthew mumbled under his breath.

"What?" Gilbert asked with a raised eyebrow.

Matthew responded with the first thing that came to his mind. "What?"

"What did you say?" Gilbert smirked.

"…What?" came the intelligent reply. Gilbert laughed and looked like he was about to say something else, but the director stepped back onto set and ushered them back to where they were before. Matthew's face felt like it was on fire, but he forced himself to control his blush again, he had to fit back into his roll, who wasn't much like him at all, in all honesty.

"Action!"

* * *

"So you really are this quiet all the time," Gilbert laughed and Matthew blushed, looking back down at the menu without another word. "Oi, don't quit talking now, it's not an insult, I swear! You should speak up a little, though, I do like the sound of your voice."

"Are you usually this loud?" Matthew asked and Gilbert nodded with a smirk. It was actually pretty astonishing, they were at a fairly fancy restaurant where you would obviously need a reservation, which made Matthew think that Gilbert was either sure that Matthew would say yes or he had a back-up. "So…why are we eating here? Isn't this a bit…much for a first date?"

"Are you saying you're already thinking about going out with this awesomeness again?" Gilbert smirked and Matthew rolled his eyes.

"Answer my questions," Matthew said.

"They owe me a favor," Gilbert shrugged. "I did this commercial thing for them and so they always make room for me if I wanna eat here. I also know the two owners, they're twins from Italy and they're great, they just aren't here today. I'm sure Feli would love to meet you and Lovi would love to curse at you."

"How…sweet?" Matthew tried to find the right word, but failed and resorted to sarcasm instead. Gilbert just laughed, as usual. "So you can just come here on a whim and kick someone out of their reservation?"

"They've never complained about it before," Gilbert shrugged. "It's not that bad, I mean they space out reservations well enough to be able to work around it. I'm not that obnoxious."

"Are you sure?" Matthew smiled and Gilbert laughed.

"There ya go!" Gilbert said happily. "I've been waiting to see that spunk I know you have in you! I've only really gotten to know your character and I've been dying to know what a cutie like you really acts like, so this is great!"

"You think I'm cute?" Matthew asked, taking a sip of his water in front of him in an attempt to hide his blush, though he was sure it wasn't working very well.

"You're adorable," Gilbert said easily and Matthew fought not to choke on the water as he put the glass down. Gilbert was incredibly straight forward, which was sort of nice, but a little surprising. "What do you think of me?"

"I've thought you were handsome for a while," Matthew mumbled and Gilbert raised an eyebrow and leaned forward with a smirk.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that over the crowd," Gilbert said.

"Bullshit, you heard that," Matthew said and Gilbert laughed, not caring about the looks that people around them gave since he was so loud.

"And you can curse!" Gilbert said happily. "You are perfect! Wait, I have one other question to ask you to make sure you really are perfect."

"I feel like I should be scared," Matthew chuckled slightly.

"Favorite food."

"Why does that matter?" Matthew asked.

"I'm asking the questions here," Gilbert said. "Now you answer my question."

"Pancakes," Matthew said and Gilbert stared at him.

"I honestly didn't expect you to get that right," Gilbert muttered, which was probably the quietest Matthew had ever heard his voice.

"It was an opinion, there's no right answer," Matthew mumbled.

"No, you're my perfect guy, and that proves it!" Gilbert nodded resolutely. "My favorite food is pancakes, too, and that makes us awesomely compatible."

"How?" Matthew asked, starting to think of Gilbert as a little crazy at this point.

"Don't question it," Gilbert said. "You may not be sure, but I am now. You're perfect."

"Right, okay," Matthew said carefully. Gilbert really did decide things quickly, didn't he?

* * *

Matthew had honestly no idea how it happened, but he couldn't exactly say that he was unhappy with how it turned out. They had a few drinks at the restaurant and then Gilbert dragged him to a bar, where they had even more drinks, and then Matthew willingly went into Gilbert's apartment, where they had even more drinks, and then things started to escalate rather quickly. He couldn't remember very well who had started it, but they soon found that they couldn't take their hands off of each other. More drinks, and Matthew's memories got even more foggy. He recalled entering the bedroom with Gilbert, forgetting half of their clothes in the living room, and Matthew supposed that explained why his ass hurt a little.

But he found himself smiling when he woke up in a familiar position to him, Gilbert behind him on the bed with an arm slung protectively around his waist (though this time it was a bare waist), his breath tracing onto Matthew's neck. But this time it didn't feel awkward, it actually felt very nice. He didn't want to move from his spot, despite the fact that the clock said that they would run late if they didn't hurry up and go. He didn't even mind the feeling of a hangover dragging him down because he was just so…comfortable.

"Wait until Elizaveta sees us spooning like this," Gilbert laughed behind him.

* * *

**Okay, so this one had me a little stumped, and my muse just up and left for this one, luckily the next one should be better, so we can pray for that to happen. Anyway, I'm back home now and I have good internet again, and I can go on it whenever I want, instead of just in the morning (try sharing the internet with two other teenage girls, a workaholic dad, and a mom who's obsessed with the news when only one person can get on at a time) so I'm very happy now.**

**Anyway, please review! It's very kind of you!**

**And join me next time for the next challenge, Doing Something Together (the most vague topic I've ever seen), titled "Test".**


	18. Test

Day 18 Challenge: Doing Something Together

Title: "Test"

Enjoy!

* * *

It was dark, with only a dim glow from their glow sticks hidden among the rocks serving as their light. Gilbert was holding a cold pistol in his hand as the brisk air whipped past them. It was freezing and the gloves on his hands didn't help anything, nor did the heavy jacket he had on. The soldier beside him didn't seem to mind at all, leaning against the jagged rocks and never moving, hardly making it known that he was alive. He was looking into the darkness in front of them carefully, waiting for something to move in the landscape, to give him an excuse to go to the gun lying on the ground in perfect position not even a foot away from him. It was perfectly silent, the only movement around them was the wind and Gilbert's twitching. He was never good at staying still for long periods of time.

"You need to stay still," the other soldier said, in his usual, quiet voice. "It's distracting."

"Really?" Gilbert whispered. "You aren't even looking this way."

"I can hear you," the soldier said. "I notice the little things."

"How long have you been-"

"We can't afford idle chatter," the soldier told him to shut him up. "This is a test. You've been training for years, this is the last test you need to go actual battle. Don't mess anything up."

Gilbert rolled his eyes at the soldier and adjusted his position slightly to try to look into the darkness. There was no way that the other soldier could see anything in that murky darkness. The more Gilbert tried, the less he saw and that was irritating. He couldn't even speak freely. What the hell kind of a test was this? He wasn't told anything before going into it, just that there was an experienced soldier with him.

"There," the soldier said and swiftly moved to his gun. He was a sniper, judging by the gun, and he laid onto his stomach. Gilbert immediately pointed his pistol where he saw the soldier pointing his own gun, but he still couldn't see anything. Then there was a little light, just barely noticeable, but he locked onto it. Just one little difference was enough for him to know someone was coming.

The soldier fired and the light moved, just barely. The soldier cursed under his breath and a shot was fired, very loudly, but Gilbert didn't jump. The soldier beside him did, however, but Gilbert stayed with the target. He wasn't far enough away, judging by the light, for his pistol to miss. He didn't hesitate to fire, landing multiple shots before everything returned to silence. The light moved again and Gilbert waited for the other one to fire a shot, but nothing came. Gilbert smirked, he got him.

"Help," came the quiet plea from the soldier beside him and Gilbert immediately looked over to him. The soldier was on the ground, hand gripping tightly onto his shoulder. Even in the dim lighting, Gilbert could clearly see the crimson liquid seeping out of the soldier's arm.

"Shit," Gilbert cursed under his breath and quickly moved to the soldier's side, pulling a small first-aid kit with him. The lighting sucked, but he would have to make do. "Were you shot?"

"Did you kill him?" the soldier asked.

"I'm pretty sure," Gilbert said. "Did you get shot?"

"Are you completely sure?" the soldier asked.

"No," Gilbert said, tearing the cloth around Matthew's injured area. "I need to take care of you first, I don't care about your experience. Were you shot? I can't stitch you up with a bullet in your shoulder."

"Yes," the soldier nodded. "Bullet is still in there."

Gilbert nodded and quickly moved the soldier onto his back, moving his hand away, despite the hiss of pain the soldier gave out. There was no anesthesia and so Gilbert had to go in and the soldier would just have to deal with it. The soldier was covered in scars, he must be used to this, but it was still unpleasant. Gilbert grabbed tweezers from the kit and immediately started searching the small hole in the dim lighting.

"How long have you been a soldier?" Gilbert asked him.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" the soldier gasped in pain, but stayed quiet, just like Gilbert, just in case another person came by to shoot at them.

"I asked you a question," Gilbert said. He knew how this worked. He had to distract him in order for him to escape some of the pain. That was how a lot of this worked, but he couldn't tell him otherwise he would know.

"10 years," the soldier hissed as Gilbert found the bullet and managed to pull it out carefully. "This doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does," Gilbert nodded. "What's your name?"

"Williams," the soldier said and Gilbert scoffed, searching through the kit to find a needle and thread that he'd need to patch him up as quickly as possible. It wouldn't last long, but only just long enough for them to get proper help for it.

"I need your first name, I'll give you mine," Gilbert said and started sewing. Williams grunted in pain and Gilbert winced.

"Matthew," Williams muttered.

"Gilbert."

"Why?" Matthew asked and groaned in pain, attempting to keep himself quiet.

"Don't worry about it," Gilbert said. "What do you do when you're not…soldiering?"

"Nothing," Matthew shook his head. "This is all I do."

"What did you do 11 years ago?" Gilbert asked.

"Training," Matthew said.

"Did you always want to be a soldier?"

"That was all my brother and I wanted to do," Matthew mumbled and only winced slightly as Gilbert continued. "Parents were soldiers. They died. We're soldiers and we haven't died yet. So we keep going until we do."

"Aren't you a ray of sunshine?" Gilbert chuckled and tied up the stitching.

"You were distracting me," Matthew said. "Good tactic."

"Thanks, I try," Gilbert shrugged.

"Are you sure you killed him?" Matthew asked.

"He hasn't shot at us again," Gilbert shrugged. "He's either dead or dying. Did you miss on purpose?"

"The test was to observe your skills, not mine," Matthew said. And, suddenly, it was bright. They were surrounded by four white walls, there was a glowing white ceiling above them, and a white floor below them. There were no guns, there was no first aid kid, no more rocks, just the two sitting in the white room. Matthew no longer had stitches in his arm, but there was a hole in the uniform he was currently wearing from where Gilbert ripped it. He had almost forgotten that it was all just a simulation.

"Does this mean I passed?" Gilbert asked while Matthew took a few deep breaths to steady himself before standing up and brushing himself off. Gilbert quickly stood up as well.

"Maybe," Matthew said, turning to the door of the room. "I'm not at liberty to say anything."

"Wait, what are you going to go do?" Gilbert asked, easily catching up to the other soldier, who glanced back at him with cold, indigo eyes that Gilbert had never seen before. He was gorgeous, but Gilbert wasn't about to say that out loud to him.

"Another test," Matthew nodded.

"Is it the same as this last one?" Gilbert asked.

"And some people are less competent at stitching people up than you," Matthew said.

"You were just shot and you're about to go do it again?" Gilbert asked.

"I've been shot plenty of times before, in real life," Matthew rolled his eyes and opened the door. "If this is helping to get new soldiers on the field, I'll do what has to be done."

"When are you going to go get shot at by real people again?" Gilbert asked, following Matthew as he walked through a long hallway that had scientists flitting about, staring at their last guinea pigs.

"Two weeks," Matthew said simply.

"Will you be at this base?" Gilbert asked.

"Yes," Matthew said carefully.

"Then do me the honor of meeting me at the canteen," Gilbert smirked. "Any time before either of us leaves to get shot at. I'll be there at the same times every day. Seven hundred hours, thirteen hundred hours, and nineteen hundred hours."

"Are you asking me out?" Matthew asked.

"I'm usually better at this, too," Gilbert laughed slightly as they opened the next door, where other soldiers in training were sitting in perfect silence. Gilbert nodded to them, despite them looking at him like he was going to die just 20 minutes beforehand. "Think about it, I'll be there."

He patted Matthew's back and left the door on the other end of the room, saluting the higher ranked soldier accordingly before leaving. He couldn't hide the smirk on his face at how…flustered the experienced soldier had looked.

* * *

**My original plan for this prompt was Fishing, but then I got this wonderful idea out of the blue and I loved it, so why not roll with it? Training simulation as a final test for soldiers in some world going through some war against some enemy. The details aren't important. They're cuties no matter what.**

**Please review, it's very kind, I like all sorts of feedback!**

**And join me next time for the next challenge, In Formal Wear, titled "Dinner".**


	19. Dinner

Day 19 Challenge: In Formal Wear

Title: "Dinner"

Enjoy!

* * *

Gilbert hated his job. But he needed it. It was horrible, but he needed a place to live and food on the table. The damn monkey suit he was forced to wear was incredibly uncomfortable, but Francis and Antonio said he looked good in a suit, so who was he to judge? The tie was uncomfortable as well, and he could never break in the stupid dress shoes, no matter how much this damned job made him move around.

"Bastard!" Lovino, a chef at the restaurant Gilbert worked, snapped and Gilbert jumped slightly, turning his attention back to the matter at hand. "Food! Customers kind of need it!"

"Yeah, yeah," Gilbert rolled his eyes and picked up the food that was coming from the kitchen, checking it with the ticket, before placing it on a tray and easily walking back to the dining room, weaving expertly around other waiters and customers. Yes, he was a waiter, no, he wasn't proud of it. He gave food to the customers, they smiled and said thank you, and they dug in after Gilbert left. His stomach growled, but his dinner break wasn't for another two hours. Damn, he wanted food.

He looked over to a table that the hostess had just placed two new costumers, twins by the look of them, and he made his way over. He took a deep breath and put on the very heavy façade that covered his actual personality with kindness.

"Hello, my name is Gilbert, I'll be your waiter this evening," he said cordially, almost as if he was on auto pilot. He did notice, however, that one twin was definitely cuter than the other. One sat with an air of arrogance and would obviously order a shit ton of food. The cute one sat quietly, giving Gilbert all of his attention, and smiled politely. They were both in the same suit, but had the subtle differences, like a tie versus no tie and wrinkles versus perfectly ironed. "Can I interest either of you in a drink?"

"I'll take a coke," the arrogant one said simply, leaning back in his chair.

"Just a water, please," the cute one smiled and Gilbert nodded, remembering the order easily enough.

"Right away," Gilbert said and swiftly walked back to the kitchen, where he could quickly get the two glasses and fill them. In practically no time at all, he placed them onto the table with the twins, told them to take their time with the menu, and went off to help some other table that had a baby and looked in desperate need of napkins.

After mindlessly going through some other tables, he glanced over at the twins and noticed that they had put their menus down and were just talking, the obnoxious one laughing loudly and the cute one just nodding and smiling with him. God, he was so fucking adorable. And he looked good in a suit, but he looked like he would definitely prefer to be in more comfortable clothes. The obnoxious one, however, looked calm and relaxed, like he expected to own this place.

"Have you two decided on what you want?" Gilbert asked politely.

"Could I have the fettuccini alfredo, please?" the cute one asked politely.

"Sure, absolutely," Gilbert nodded and jotted it down on his stupid, little notepad and then glanced at the other twin.

"Same, dude," the obnoxious one said and held out his own menu for Gilbert to take. Gilbert just forced a smile, writing down the note on his pad before grabbing the menu. The cute one held out the menu to him with a smile and Gilbert offered him a smile of his own.

"Thank you," the cute one mumbled and Gilbert nodded to him.

"Thank you," Gilbert replied and quickly put the menus back in their usual place before giving the order to the kitchen.

"Any assholes for you tonight?" Lovino asked him from the kitchen.

"One guy, I think he'll get there if your kitchen takes too long because you're chatting," Gilbert smirked, eyeing his tables, which looked alright for him to stay in the back for now.

"Elizaveta got this major ass hole that touched her ass," Lovino laughed. "She stole a frying pan a few minutes ago. That poor fucker."

"Won't know what hit him," Gilbert shook his head, eyeing the cute twin.

"What the fuck is that?" Lovino asked and Gilbert jumped again, looking back at him.

"What was what?" Gilbert asked.

"That customer better be cute as fuck," Lovino said, attempting to look around him. "Which order is his?"

"Uh, two fettuccinis," Gilbert said.

"I'll tell you which one goes to him," Lovino smirked and disappeared back into the kitchen. Gilbert smirked before going back onto the floor, going from table to table, refilling the obnoxious twin's coke, getting the cute one some more water. Clearing the tables of the people that left, their baby leaving quite the mess for other busboys to clean up. He saw the owner, Arthur Kirkland, apologizing profusely with Elizaveta apologizing as well to a man that was currently nursing a bruised face and a bleeding nose.

Time passed slowly and Gilbert was thankful, it gave him plenty of time to watch the cute twin without him noticing, despite other customers sapping his attention. The obnoxious one's laugh filling up practically the whole restaurant. Finally, the food came out and Lovino made it clear that the one in Gilbert's left hand was meant for the cute twin.

"The other one's obnoxious, too, so make sure you don't mix 'em up," Lovino smirked at him.

"What the hell did you do?" Gilbert asked.

"I guarantee that punk ass can't handle spicy shit," Lovino smirked. "I added a few extra spices to that one for fucking up the tranquility of the restaurant."

"Thank you," Gilbert laughed and quickly brought the food, ensuring that he gave the right dish to the right twin. He could easily tell the difference between the two by how they sat. The cute one gave a profuse thank you to him and Gilbert nodded to him. The obnoxious one was already digging in. Gilbert trotted around the dining room and helped out other people, carting food and deserts back and forth. His stomach was still growling, but he couldn't really do anything, since his next break was at least an hour off at this point.

Finally, after a nice, calm night, something messed up. A rich kid with white hair, he looked a little creepy. He wore a scarf that the hostess couldn't even get off of him, and he was sitting with two girls that looked similar enough to him to be his sisters. And Gilbert quickly realized that the man and one of the girls were bat shit crazy. He wanted vodka and, sadly, they were in America. And the man seemed offended that Gilbert asked for his ID and then the crazy sister let her claws out and demanded that Ivan get special treatment. Gilbert did the most logical thing he could think of and went right for the owner. Kirkland shivered at just the sight of the three, but Gilbert shoved him that way anyway.

"He's not American, what nationality is he?" Lovino asked when Gilbert returned to the kitchen.

"Russian," Gilbert muttered, watching as Arthur tried to handle this diplomatically, but it wasn't turning out well at all.

"What the fuck did he want?" Lovino snapped.

"Vodka," Gilbert muttered.

"Fuck America and they're rules," Lovino sighed. "The only reason I'm fucking here is because of my stupid grandfather."

"I have no idea why I'm here," Gilbert shrugged.

"Don't look now but your twin's alone," Lovino smirked, nodding to the table with the twins. Sure enough, when Gilbert looked in that direction, he saw that the cute one was sitting alone, continuing to eat his dinner calmly. "I suggest you use this time wisely."

"Thank you," Gilbert smirked before walked over to the table. "Is there anything else I can help you with, sir?"

"Oh, no, thank you," he answered quietly, shaking his head. "I do have a question, though. Al and I ordered the same thing, but he's complaining about it being too spicy or something, I don't understand."

"I can have a word with the chef if you would like," Gilbert responded, trying extremely hard to fight back the smirk making its way onto his face.

"No, it's not that big of a deal," the cute one shook his head again. "I saw what was happening with that man and I'm really sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for," Gilbert said. "We get troublesome customers all of the time, it is no problem at all."

"What's…" he bit his lip. "What's your favorite drink? Here?"

"If you want my opinion on a drink, I would suggest the beer," Gilbert offered. "They get it from Germany, so it's good stuff."

"Then get one on me," the lone twin said. "You're 21, yeah?"

"Are you serious?" Gilbert dropped the façade and the twin giggled slightly.

"It's fine, you deserve it after…that," the twin smiled softly at him. "And if you did anything to my brother's food, I don't care. It was actually really funny to watch his reaction. Besides, he's making me pay, so I might as well."

Gilbert couldn't stop his laughter and noticed the other twin making his way back from the restroom.

"Make sure he doesn't see your check," Gilbert smirked and swiftly walked away.

"Is that what you call fucking flirting?" Lovino snapped at him while Gilbert collected the food for a certain table. "That was a shame."

"Well, he got me a beer," Gilbert shrugged. "So I say fuck it."

"Wait, he got you a beer?" Lovino asked.

"Hell yeah," Gilbert said proudly.

"Nice attempt, then," Lovino smirked. "Don't drink that shit on your time, wait till your break. I don't wanna deal with another half an hour of shouting from Kirkland."

"Yeah, yeah, don't fucking worry," Gilbert mumbled, picking up the stray and heading out. "I'm still drinking it!"

"You better!"

Gilbert shook his head and continued with his job, serving food to people, avoiding the table of the crazy people that Kirkland was stuck taking care of. He eventually got the check for the twins and swiftly wrote down a few extra things on it.

"That better be your fucking number, I am not telling you pass that cute ass up," Lovino remarked.

"Don't tell me how to live my life," Gilbert smirked. "I do what I want."

"Well, he isn't coming back for the fucking food," Lovino laughed. "At least not his brother."

"I didn't ask for anything you did for me, but I am thankful," Gilbert smirked.

"You better damn well be," Lovino smirked. "Give them the check, then it's your break."

Gilbert nodded to him before walking over to the table and handing the check to the cuter one.

"Thank you," the cuter one smiled. Gilbert nodded to him and glanced at the brother, who raised an eyebrow at the two of them.

"Pay at the front, please," Gilbert said and walked to the back once again. The crazy Russian man was yelling again, but he found himself a beer, popped the cap, and drank it quickly. He was only in the back for a few minutes before Elizaveta squealed and ran up to him, the sound of the squeal heard throughout all of the restaurant. "Who died?"

"A cute boy left you this!" Elizaveta squealed and gave Gilbert a small slip of paper. Gilbert carefully took it and saw, in very neat scrawl, _In case I ever get the guts to use that number, my name is Matthew so you'll know who's calling_. "He was so cute, too! What the hell did you even do?"

"I was just my awesome self," Gilbert smirked, taking a good swig of that beer. "He made the first move, too, got me a beer."

"Don't lose this one," Elizaveta said, pointing a finger at him before running off to return to work.

"Don't intend to." He took another swig.

* * *

**Less Matthew in this one, but I still like it. I feel like Gilbert could only make a good waiter if he was able to either swallow all of his pride (which is impossible) or become a sort of actor and go into a roll of a waiter. I also love Lovi as a little supporting actor here, he's great back up for Gilbert, especially if he's looking for good love advice. In case y'all were wondering, this whole story ended with PruCan where they lived happily ever after surrounded by the gayest rainbows you've ever seen.**

**Please review! It's very nice!**

**And join me tomorrow of the next challenge, Dancing, titled "Teacher".**


	20. Teacher

Day 20 Challenge: Dancing

Title: "Teacher"

Enjoy!

* * *

Matthew sat in the uncomfortable chair, shifting slightly, while he waited. He got there early, as he always did, and that resorted in an awkward silence between him and…no one. Not even the receptionist at the front room was there anymore. At least she would create noise by clicking on the keys of her computer or something. This whole situation was embarrassing enough without Matthew alone with his thoughts to examine every possible awkward outcome this would have. His teacher was even running late, which made Matthew even more nervous, thinking of all of things that could go wrong.

"Sorry," a man opened the door at the other side of the room and Matthew's attention piqued. "Lost track of time, I guess." The man laughed and Matthew smiled politely at him before standing up. When Alfred had said that he got Matthew a teacher for classical dance, he expected some uptight person that would most likely rip him to pieces. What he was not expecting, however, was the person in front of him. He was relaxed, but with a cocky air about him. He had startling features, considering he was albino, and he didn't look like the kind of person that would judge Matthew at all. "Matthew Williams, right?"

"Yes," Matthew said slowly, walking forward. He almost expected to see another customer leave, but he didn't see anyone. This place seemed like it was definitely out of the way for a lot of people, in a tiny studio above a dentist in a small shopping area, and it didn't look like it was visited often. The person in front of him didn't seem to be dressed eloquently at all, either. He was dressed in sweat pants and a very loose shirt.

"Gilbert Beilschmidt," the man smiled, holding out a hand, which Matthew took to shake. "If you call me Gilbert, am I okay to call you Matthew?"

"Sure, yeah, that's fine," Matthew nodded and Gilbert nodded to the door he'd just come from. Matthew followed him and looked at the room around them. It was like any other dance studio he'd expect to see, a room with wooden floors and mirrors on the walls to the left and right and simple plaster on the others. Gilbert raced ahead of him to run up to a stereo cart and pick up the remote.

"So…Matthew, what are you trapped here for?" Gilbert smirked, seemingly a little more comfortable in this room. Matthew closed the door with a small sigh.

"My brother is getting married and he wants me to learn the waltz," Matthew sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"That sucks ass," Gilbert laughed. "Sorry, I curse a lot, if you don't like it I can stop. The receptionist'll beat me with a frying pan if I curse around her."

"No, it's fine, I'm used to worse," Matthew smiled.

"Sweet, shoes, off," Gilbert pointed at him with the remote and Matthew nodded shakily, taking off his beaten, old tennis shoes and placing them in the closest corner. "Don't take offense to this question, but tell me about your partner. You know, bigger or smaller then you? Dude or chick?"

"Uh…I…" Matthew sighed, running a hand through his hair. "My invitation has a plus one but I don't make friends easily and so I don't exactly have a plus one and…Alfred just said he'd find a girl there who didn't have a date for me." He flinched, half expecting this man to laugh at him for his story. As true as it was, it was still pretty lame…he was a little lame…

"I get you, I don't have a lot of friends, either," Gilbert smirked, leaning onto a mirror with ease. "At least, not the kind you would invite to a wedding. I wouldn't be invited, either, don't get me wrong. I'd be in the same boat as you, though, if my brother wound up finally marrying Feli, but that shit ain't happening soon."

Matthew nodded. He knew that talking vaguely about personal lives was a part of businesses, small talk of course. But they were easily going deep into personal lives and Matthew wasn't sure how safe that was.

"Should we go ahead, then?" Gilbert smirked, offering a hand out to him. Matthew nodded and walked forward. He definitely didn't like the idea of being close to a person he hardly knew to learn a dance he knew even less. "I don't bite, don't worry," Gilbert laughed and Matthew took his hand. "Now, I assume you're brother's not an ass that would give you someone that would make you look smaller than you already are. So I'll teach you the lead, cool?"

"You're…a little bigger than me," Matthew muttered.

"We can worry about that later," Gilbert shrugged. "Now, take this hand. Good. And put the other on my waist, right above my hip." It was awkward, but Matthew did it. Gilbert put his spare hand, which was still holding the remote, on Matthew's shoulder. "Don't worry, this is awkward for everyone." He laughed and hit a button on the remote and soft music filled the room. "You can keep a beat, right?"

"Um, yes," Matthew nodded. He had played piano, thanks to his parents, for long enough to know how to keep track of a beat.

"Awesome," Gilbert nodded. "Whenever you're ready, on the beat, move your right foot forward. I'll move with you."

"Shouldn't you teach me a few steps first or something?" Matthew asked shakily. He wasn't sure what just doing one step would do to teach him. Any other friend that had tried to teach him had completely failed in every way.

"It's my method," Gilbert shrugged. "I'm going to see what you can do on your own and tell you what you need to fine tune here and there. Don't worry, I'm not gonna judge you. No matter how bad you think you are, I've seen worse."

"Right," Matthew took a deep breath and listened to the song, finding the beat easily enough. He looked right into Gilbert's red eyes and carefully took one step forward. Gilbert nodded encouragingly, following him just like he said. Matthew took another step on beat, a little more confident than before. A few more steps and his confidence had increased by a lot. He took a few steps backwards and Gilbert followed, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you sure you haven't done something like this before?" Gilbert asked as Matthew continued. It was coming so much easier than he knew that it should and he couldn't really understand why.

"Yeah," Matthew mumbled.

"Here, let me try something," Gilbert said and the two stopped. Gilbert moved his hand down to Matthew's side and Matthew slowly moved his hand to Gilbert's shoulder. "Follow my lead, here." He pressed a few buttons on the remote and the music changed to something a little more fast paced.

"What are you doing?" Matthew asked.

"Trust me," Gilbert smirked and stepped forward. Matthew stepped back with him and Gilbert's smirk only grew.

After a few more simple steps, Gilbert tried something else and Matthew, surprisingly, went along with him easily. He spun Matthew perfectly with the beat and they continued, though their step was a little more complicated. Still, it came extremely easy to Matthew and he couldn't understand why. Gilbert smirked and tried a few other tricks, involving dipping Matthew and a couple of other spins. Matthew had no idea how long they danced, but he found that he oddly didn't mind. As easily as it was coming to him, he found himself a little distracted. By Gilbert. He knew exactly what he was doing, apparently well trained enough to continue this dance for hours without it getting boring at all. Matthew hadn't even noticed that the music had sped up its tempo and he didn't notice that he was actually getting rather tired from all of this, he just continued, almost afraid of what would happen when he stopped. He would have to step away from Gilbert, sever the seemingly unbreakable connection their hands held on each other.

Finally, however, the song finished and Matthew was leaned back just slightly, not quite in a dip, and the two ended with their faces, their lips, just _centimeters_ apart. Matthew hardly noticed his fatigue, just that he was panting, but he found that it, strangely, took all of his control to not close that gap. He had to force himself to stare at Gilbert's eyes, but found his gaze flickering to his lips constantly, a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach growing the longer they stayed in that position.

"You're a natural," Gilbert spoke first, not even moving to separate them.

"I told you," Matthew said quietly, "I've never been good at this in the past."

"Then it's chemistry," Gilbert smirked. They stayed in quiet for even longer, neither moving, before Gilbert spoke again. "You said you had a plus one, right?"

"Yeah," Matthew answered.

"You could always invite me and upstage your brother at his own wedding," Gilbert laughed slightly, his breath wisping on Matthew's face. Matthew bit his lip, just barely. This was a complete stranger that he had just happened to dance well with and he was about to invite him to a wedding, where they would basically be having a date. Many, many things could go wrong there.

"It's next Saturday." The words spilled out of Matthew's mouth before he could stop them and Gilbert nodded.

And, slowly, the two pulled apart, Matthew feeling oddly disappointed at the outcome, but he didn't say anything about that. Matthew composed himself and Gilbert turned back to his stereo. Matthew glanced up at the clock in the room and noticed that his time was almost up. They'd been dancing for nearly forty-five minues, no wonder he was so fatigued now.

"Maybe during that dance, we'll actually get to kiss," Gilbert laughed and Matthew blushed.

* * *

**I've noticed with a lot of other challenge fics that they combine the formal wear and dancing challenges and I decided to be cool and switch it up. I loved this idea the second I came up with it, anyway. Gilbert as a classical dance instructor…Psh… Oh, well, I think he could do it if he really wanted to. Anywho, they're adorable, as always.**

**Please review!**

**And join me for tomorrow's challenge, Cooking, titled "Student".**


	21. Student

Day 21 Challenge: Cooking

Title: "Student"

Enjoy!

* * *

Gilbert stared at the lump of…was it food? He wasn't quite sure anymore, despite the fact that he had prepared it himself. He let out a groan, hitting his head against the table in front of him. This was all just a waste of money at this point, he would never get as good at cooking as all of the other students here.

"Fuck my life," Gilbert grumbled. His brother hadn't even been sure when Gilbert had told him he wanted to try going into cooking. He'd changed his mind on possible career paths since freshman year of high school almost constantly. One year, it was a mechanic, one month it was an artist, one day it was costume designer, for a while he was sure he'd be a producer, then he decided he wanted to own his own business. And he had been absolutely _sure_ that he wanted to be a chef. And he sucked at it.

"I see you still haven't improved, Mr. Beilschmidt," the teacher, this obnoxious Frenchman named "Monsieur Bonnefoy", walked up to him. In hindsight, if Gilbert paid more attention to the man, he would have noticed that, under different circumstances, they could quite possibly be friends, but that wasn't important.

"Nope," Gilbert grumbled, not even looking up from his spot on the table.

"It has occurred to me that you might be in need of a tutor," Monsieur Bonnefoy continued and Gilbert glanced up at the man, as he was standing. "So I talked with Mr. Williams for you."

"Who?" Gilbert sat upright. He didn't pay much attention to the people in this class, but if this person was "outstanding" enough for Monsieur Bonnefoy to use him as a tutor for his most helpless student, he had to be good. So why hadn't Gilbert heard of him?

"You will sit with him for the remainder of the class," Monsieur Bonnefoy smiled. "He sits at the back, the desk to the right."

Gilbert glanced back at where the teacher had pointed and, at first, didn't see another person at the desk he referenced. After a short while, however, he saw one person. He was small, a little frail, but he was sitting in front of a beautiful concoction that looked way better than anything anyone else in the room had.

They cleaned up, Gilbert threw his sad excuse for food in the garbage, then he picked up his cooking utensils and moved to the back, next to the kid, who looked at him, slightly wary.

"I don't bite," Gilbert scoffed at him and the boy jumped slightly but nodded anyway. They sat in quiet after that while Monsieur Bonnefoy continued his lesson. They were apparently going to prepare another kind of food later and then be dismissed, but Gilbert would have to wait for that moment while he pretended to listen to the teacher.

His thoughts were focused on the person next to him, who seemed to be completely enthralled by the lesson. The more Gilbert looked at him, the more he noticed that he was actually pretty adorable. Damn him for not noticing this little gem before that moment. He noticed that he had the smallest of ticks, like moving that little curl in front of his face occasionally, only to not notice it going right back to where it was before, bouncing his left knee, tapping his finger on the table when he wasn't taking notes. He laughed at a joke that Monsieur Bonnefoy made and Gilbert fought back a smile at how cute it both looked and sounded. This wasn't as bad as Gilbert originally thought it would be.

Finally, Monsieur Bonnefoy stopped droning on about whatever the hell it was that they had to cook and told them to go ahead and start. That was when Gilbert noticed that there was nothing on the board to tell him what the hell it was they were supposed to be making.

"Shit," Gilbert muttered to himself, glancing at "Williams" (whatever the hell his first name was), who gave him a sympathetic smile. Still adorable.

"I'm starting to think that the reason you're failing isn't just because you can't cook very well," Williams sighed and moved his notebook to the center of the table carefully. On it, in incredibly neat handwriting, was the recipe they had to prepare as well as the steps to make it. "It's partners this time, which is probably another reason he brought you back here, since neither of us sits next to somebody."

"Right," Gilbert nodded with a sigh. The recipe was a little complicated and they had a little over an hour left in class to do it.

"Let's get started, eh?" Williams asked.

"Yeah," Gilbert nodded once again and he pulled out a few bowls while Williams went to fetch ingredients. Immediately when he came back, he began to sift the flour easily. "So…first name. Teach didn't give me yours, just your last name."

"Oh, um, Matthew," the kid glanced at him for just a second before returning to his work. "And you?"

"The Awesome Gilbert, at your service," Gilbert smirked.

"Great," Matthew nodded. "If you are at my service, please separate these three eggs for me," he delicately pushed a bowl that held three eggs towards Gilbert, who sighed slightly before nodding and doing as he was told. He couldn't just sit there and watch while Matthew did the project on his own, that would be unawesome of him.

"So, you're apparently pretty awesome at this," Gilbert attempted to start a conversation. He always hated working in quiet, he needed something else to occupy his mind. "How long you been cooking for?"

"Since before I could walk properly," Matthew smiled cutely and Gilbert smirked. Great conversation topic, good job Gilbert. "I've always loved cooking. What about you? What made you want to come here?"

"Uh, more or less on a whim, I guess?" Gilbert shrugged and Matthew gave him another task that involved stirring dry ingredients together, including the newly sifted flour, while Matthew took the eggs and started mixing the wet ingredients together. "I've never really been sure on any career path I've chosen so far."

"Well, you're not exactly a natural with cooking," Matthew chuckled while he fixed the way Gilbert was holding the fork that he was using to mix the dry ingredients with. "Stir it in less of an oval and more of a circle. And make sure you get the stuff that sticks to the edges."

"Yes, sir," Gilbert smirked, doing as he was told while Matthew stirred together everything he needed in practically no time at all. And he did it with a finesse that Gilbert honestly couldn't replicate. "So, what do you want to do in the future with all of your fancy cooking skills?"

"Well, if I could own a restaurant, that would be fantastic," Matthew smiled before taking Gilbert's now mixed bowl and adding the wet ingredients before he handed it back to Gilbert, who started to stir again while Matthew watched him carefully. "Being able to cook for hundreds, maybe thousands of people and have them leave happy would be the best thing in the world for me. And being at a place where no one can really see helps, too. I mean, it's nice to have people acknowledge that it's me cooking, but talking to people isn't really my strong point. I'm rambling, sorry."

"Nah, I don't mind," Gilbert shrugged. "It's kinda nice, actually. Hell, if you want, I could help ya with that restaurant, not with cooking, obviously. But I would make a hell of a host, I'm great with people."

"That's sweet of you," Matthew smiled slightly. "I may just take you up on that offer."

* * *

"Are you really sure you should trust me with this part?" Gilbert asked warily.

"It's a garnish," Matthew giggled. "It's not that hard to put a garnish on top of a steak."

"What if I tilt it wrong or something?" Gilbert asked.

"You can't," Matthew laughed. Gilbert sighed and carefully placed the stupid little garnish thing on top of the steak with so much concentration that his tongue stuck out slightly. Matthew laughed again just as Gilbert placed the garnish on it before stepping back proudly. "You did it wrong."

"Wait, are you serious?" Gilbert gaped at him and Matthew laughed again.

"I'm just kidding with you," Matthew laughed, holding onto his stomach. Gilbert scowled slightly. He'd known Matthew for a month now, making random recipes every other day, and he hadn't failed anything since they started working together. Though he found that he was even more distracted than usual. Distracted by the cute smile, the adorable laugh, the way he talked about that restaurant he wanted to open. He was failing everything else in that stupid class. "You shouldn't take everything so seriously."

"I think that's my line," Gilbert smirked. But he was a little depressed, deep inside. The class was about to end with the semester and Gilbert sure as hell wouldn't be invited back for the next level. Matthew would probably skip or something, considering how good he was at it. He would have to take a chance to make sure he could keep seeing Matthew, but he was awesome, he could take a chance easily. "I got a question to ask you."

"Can it wait a second?" Matthew asked innocently. "Monsieur Bonnefoy is about to come and check your work."

"Yeah, sure," Gilbert sighed.

* * *

Weeks passed. Weeks. And everything possible happened to stop Gilbert from asking Matthew the all-important question of going out with him. Being his fucking boyfriend. He was just annoyed at this point. But he was going to do it today, their last day of class. He waited patiently outside of the door and it felt like his foot was tapping the floor about 1,000 times a second. But it felt like he was waiting forever. Finally, _finally_, Matthew showed his face, walking quickly to the door, though he gave Gilbert a confused look when he saw him hanging out in front of the door.

"What are you doing outside of the classroom?" Matthew asked.

"Waiting for you," Gilbert replied as smoothly as possible and Matthew raised an eyebrow. "I still have that question to ask you."

"Do you think it could wait until we get in the classroom?" Matthew asked. "Class starts in a few seconds."

"No," Gilbert said hurriedly and Matthew blinked at him. "I mean, not really. It's just a little complicated to ask and-"

"I thought you said you were good with talking to people," Matthew laughed slightly and made a move to enter the classroom. Gilbert stopped him the only way he really knew how to, and it was, admittedly, a very stupid way. He pulled Matthew into a kiss. The smaller male jumped slightly, but, much to Gilbert's relief, he actually kissed back. And it stayed like that for a few, blissful seconds, before they pulled apart. "If that was your question," Matthew smiled slightly at him, "whatever it was asking…sure."

And he disappeared into the classroom. Gilbert fist-pumped proudly into the air with a wicked smirk on his face.

* * *

**More writer's block on this one, too. I dunno, I'm not that into cooking so I couldn't do too well with this prompt. If you are curious, my cooking skill is about on the level of Arthur Kirkland. In any case, it's done, they're cute, what else is new?**

**Please review.**

**And join me for tomorrow's challenge, In Battle, titled "I Spy".**


	22. I Spy

Day 22 Challenge: In Battle

Title: "I Spy"

Enjoy!

* * *

They were quiet, as always. Never detected. Through the window, through the doors, through the hallway. Darkness and no noise. Not from the guards and not from the two spies entering the building. The spy in front stopped just in front of a large hallway, tapping his headgear to check through the blueprint of the building and continued forward, quickly running without a sound. The spy in the back followed his lead quietly, looking out for anyone that might be following them, but they were safe for now. They stopped again, right next to a station where guards were listening to the radio. They would just have to make it past them and they would be in the clear to take what they had to take and then get the hell out of there. While the spy in the front thought through a plan, the other one started to fight back a sneeze.

And then, suddenly, it wasn't quiet anymore. The spy in the back failed to suppress his sneeze and the guards immediately turned off their radio and their footsteps started in their direction. The lights turned on, leaving no more darkness to hide in.

"Are you serious?" the spy in front hissed, turning around to glare at the one in the back, who held his hands up in surrender. In the light, it was easily noted that both spies were similar in dress, though there was a massive difference in their looks. The one in front had long, blond hair, while the one in back had short, white hair. One had indigo eyes while the other had red.

"What the hell do you expect me to do?" the spy in the back whispered back at him. "It's not healthy to suppress sneezes."

"Is that really your excuse?" the blond deadpanned.

"Well, you know what?" the albino sighed and pulled out his pistol from the back of his pants and pointed it just to the side of the one in front's head and fired at the guard that saw them. "I tried."

"It doesn't help your sneezes are loud," the blond sighed and pulled out two guns of his own. The spy in back pulled out his second gun and followed the one in front as he began shooting at other guards. A shrieking alarm sounded above them, alerting more guards to their presence. "This definitely isn't good."

"Why don't you just use your awesome powers of invisibility here?" the albino smirked, shooting the people behind the blond with ease. Both were good shots, hitting each target in the head in the first shot. But more guards flooded into the hallway and they were easily outnumbered and nearly overwhelmed. Nearly.

"That would involve leaving you behind, which would most likely involve your own death since you can't handle yourself alone," the blond shrugged.

"That hurts, you know," the albino laughed, leaning comfortably on the back of the blond while they fired their guns. At some point, both of them ran out of their bullets and dropped the old cartridges to replace them with new ones in a matter of just a second or two. "I'm not that incapable."

"I think all of those simulations would disagree," the blond said and kneeled down to avoid getting hit by a bullet, which the albino avoided by side stepping.

"This is real life, man," the albino pouted. "I can't believe you would doubt me like that."

"I've known you for five years," the blond laughed. "I always doubt you."

"Well, I would never doubt you," the albino said as a bullet just narrowly avoided his head, scraping slightly across his face. The albino winced, but continued firing. Thanks to the skill of both spies, not a single guard came close enough to try hand-to-hand combat with either of them. If they could keep this up, they could get out of there quickly.

"Camera," the blond said pointedly as the crowd began to thin. The albino nodded and fired at the camera on his side at the same time the blond fired at his own camera. The albino noticed out of the corner of his eye someone getting close to the blond and swiftly turned around, placing his arms on either of the blond's shoulders, and fired at the last person on that side. "You are incorrigible," the blond laughed and repeated the albino's motions, shooting the people that were left on his side. "And you left me more people."

"Well, you're more experienced than me," the albino smirked at how close he had managed to get the two to be. It was always so hard for the two of them to get this close during a mission, but it always made his blood pump faster if he could get close to the blond.

"Which means you should have used it to gain experience," the blond smiled softly at him. The albino's blood pumped faster.

"Are we gonna try for our prize?" the albino asked and stole a quick kiss from the blond, who hummed in thought. The blond swiftly kissed him again and it was longer this time.

"Why not?" the blond asked with a slight tilt to his head. He knew that the albino liked cute things and always used that to his advantage when he could. "It's not like anyone is here to stop us right now."

"And we can get in and out in a few minutes," the albino smirked.

"That amount of information, just give me thirty seconds," the blond shrugged.

"Then we can use the extra time to our advantage," the albino laughed and the blond rolled his eyes.

"That depends on how I'm feeling after I crack the code," the blond smiled.

"So, how long, exactly, are we going to stay like this?" the albino raised an eyebrow. "As comfortable as I am just staring at you, I would prefer not to get shot or arrested today."

"Just gimme another minute," the blond hummed before the two connected their lips once again, this time for a lot longer than the last. If it wasn't for the guns in their hands, they would have held onto the other's head, but they had to make do with what they had, as always. "Watch my back?" the blond asked as they separated and he went up to a locked door that could only be opened with a code.

"I'll be happy to watch that ass of yours," the albino cackled, following after the blonde, who blushed slightly, despite already being used to the albino's language and word choice.

After roughly fifteen minutes, the two nameless spies left the building with their information in hand and happy smiles on their faces.

* * *

**What did they use those fifteen minutes for? I think we all know the answer to that question. Anyway, I liked the idea of leaving them without names and we all know which one is which, if not from the hair color, then by the way they talk. Not much to say here, except that I'm sorry it's a little short. I can't do a lot with these prompts and I'm slowly becoming very distracted by the plot of a chaptered fic and then there's the shit ton of summer homework I got, but I'm not gonna gripe to you guys about that.**

**Anyway, please review!**

**And join me for tomorrow's challenge, Arguing, titled "Flirt".**


	23. Flirt

Day 23 Challenge: Arguing

Title: "Flirt"

Enjoy!

* * *

Matthew leaned against his locker, watching as Gilbert flirted with some girl he'd known for less than five minutes. All that mattered was that she had big boobs and a nice ass. That was plenty for Gilbert to try to take a shot with her. And she was simply giggling and going along with it. She knew very well who he was, Gilbert Beilschmidt of the Bad Touch Trio. Any girl in school would kill to have a chance to flirt with, and even get a chance to do something with, any of the three members. Matthew was pretty sure Francis was spreading around an STD or something at this point.

Finally, thankfully, the bell for class rang, the one class Matthew had with his old friend. And that bell was like a beacon from heaven, especially since it looked like Gilbert was about to start sucking face with that girl.

"We should get to class," Matthew said quietly, but he knew that Gilbert heard him, even through the crowd growing in the hallway. Gilbert always heard Matthew, that was one reason why Matthew liked him so much. He was ignored by nearly everyone but Gilbert. The albino's attention diverted from the girl for a second to glance at Matthew, who tried his best to look very, very annoyed, which wasn't very hard.

"Yeah, yeah," Gilbert sighed, muttering some apology huskily into the ear of the girl, who shivered slightly, and swiftly started walking in the direction of their class. Matthew hurriedly followed him. "You're such a cock block, Birdie."

"It's a good thing you have one," Matthew muttered.

"Oi, what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Gilbert asked.

"Well, I just think it makes sense that you need someone to hold you back otherwise you would have slept with every girl in this school," Matthew said simply, opening the door to their class and walking in before Gilbert.

"Wait, are you mad at me?" Gilbert asked as they entered the loud classroom. Everyone was excited because they had a substitute that day, which meant they would be watching a movie instead of learning, thankfully.

"No," Matthew mumbled and plopped down in his seat, which was thankfully not where Gilbert sat. Gilbert leaned over the desk and close to Matthew, looking him over with harsh eyes. Matthew immediately looked away. He had never been a good liar and, yes, he was a little mad that Gilbert would flirt with anything that walked even though he was worth so much more…but he would get over it. He just needed a little time to let the anger wash away and he would be a good, little Canadian again.

"You are a terrible liar," Gilbert smirked that devilish smirk that made all of the girls swoon and Matthew bit his lip, looking away. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Matthew said. Gilbert raised an eyebrow before plopping down in the seat next to Matthew. "That isn't your seat," Matthew said.

"And there's a sub, so it doesn't matter," Gilbert shrugged. "I'm not gonna leave until you admit it and we can figure out what's got your panties in a twist."

"There's…nothing wrong," Matthew sighed heavily, but couldn't continue, as the bell rang loudly above them and the teacher started droning on, pointing to their name written on the white board, something none of the kids would remember in the near future. Then the movie started, it was Romeo and Juliet, despite the fact that they still hadn't finished the play as a class, but that didn't matter. No one was paying attention anyway. Not even Matthew, though he pretended to be completely enthralled so as to avoid conversation with Gilbert.

* * *

Matthew stared at the dark clouds that loomed overhead. It would definitely rain soon and he didn't have an umbrella. Which meant he would have to walk quickly. Which also meant that his neighbor, which so happened to be Gilbert, would have to walk quickly as well. They always walked home together and nothing would ever change that. Not even the girl that Gilbert had managed to find again and was currently making out with against the brick wall of the school. There was soft thunder in the background and Matthew took a deep breath to collect himself before walking over to the two.

"Gilbert, we should get going soon, it's going to rain," Matthew said and Gilbert didn't make a move to pull away. Rather, he continued for about another minute before he finally pulled away and glanced back at him.

"What was that, Birdie?" Gilbert asked and there was a small pang in Matthew's heart. Gilbert always heard him, despite Matthew being quiet, even in incredibly crowded places. It was this skill that Matthew always admired about him, but apparently that was gone, now.

"It doesn't matter," Matthew shook his head and turned around. He started walking home and Gilbert shouted after him, leaving the girl despite her protests, to walk with Matthew.

"What the hell? I just didn't hear you the first time," Gilbert scoffed. "What the hell is the big deal about that?"

"It's nothing, don't worry," Matthew mumbled and a few water droplets began to fall around them. This was the first time Gilbert hadn't heard him and it did hurt a little, but he wasn't about to go cry about it. He was better than that, at least.

"What is with you today?" Gilbert asked. "This is the second time you've been pissed at me."

"I'm not pissed at you," Matthew rolled his eyes. "Just slightly annoyed…" He mumbled the last part.

"What is there to be annoyed about?" Gilbert asked.

"So you heard me that time?" Matthew asked coldly and immediately regretted it.

"So that is what this is about," Gilbert scoffed. "Just because I'm giving some other girls attention doesn't mean you have to bitch about it."

"Some?" Matthew rolled his eyes. "It's a little more than some. Try half the school, that seems like a good number to me."

"Are you fucking serious? Are you just jealous that I'm paying you less attention?" Gilbert asked.

"No," Matthew mumbled. "Just don't worry about it. By tomorrow, I'll be over it and you can make out with the other half of the school."

"If you have a problem with it, you could try fucking talking to me rather than complain and bitch about it," Gilbert said. "You just feel like you have to keep all of your anger pent up to the point where you're gonna snap one day."

"I don't keep it pent up, I just let my anger out in other ways," Matthew sighed.

"What? Like hockey?" Gilbert snorted. "Yeah, that's perfect. Go vent your anger on the ice with that fucking creep ass, Ivan. Don't go to your best friend."

Matthew bit his lip. He really didn't want to get into an argument, he knew it wouldn't end well and he would say things that he would regret. But Gilbert was just pushing buttons at this point.

"Well, I'm sorry Ivan notices me sometimes," Matthew grumbled. "At this rate, he might be my new best friend, since he'll notice me more than you do eventually."

"So what that some people don't notice you?" Gilbert scoffed. "It's not that big of a deal."

"That that big…" Matthew stopped in his tracks and Gilbert gave him a curious look. It was raining harder now, Matthew just noticed. "Teachers don't even notice me half of the time. I have so many absences when I was there that I've nearly been kicked out of classes! People bump into me in the hallway and say that they ran into the school's ghost! At this rate, you're going to be like my brother and only notice me when it's convenient for you! Then again, you know what it's like to be less loved than your brother."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Gilbert snapped.

This was exactly why Matthew didn't want to get into a fight. Gilbert was right, he did pent everything up, he just liked to think that he didn't. Last time he got into a fight with Alfred, it went south very fast, resorting in about a half an hour rant about Alfred's faults. He really didn't want to do that to Gilbert, but he couldn't really stop it at this point.

"We all know that your family even likes Ludwig more than you," the words spilled out before Matthew could stop them. "He's actually getting good grades, he's in multiple sports while you sit on your butt playing video games. He doesn't waste his time by going after all of the girls in the school because he's actually happy with his life. You don't even like your life which is why you keep acting like a stupid rebel every chance you get and I am sick and tired of keeping your stupid secrets about drugs and everything else! If you're just going to start ignoring me now, it'll be better off if we aren't friends."

It was quiet except for the rain and the cars rolling by on the street for a while as Matthew caught his breath and started regretting every word that spilled out of his mouth. More than half of that had nothing to do with this argument at all, but it was pent up and it spilled out. He had to stop himself from saying anything else that might hurt Gilbert more than he already looked.

"You know what good comes out of the comparison between my little brother and me all the time?" Gilbert asked, his voice dangerously quiet. "It means people actually notice me."

"You're an asshole," Matthew stated and quickly brushed by Gilbert to continue on his way home. He never cursed if he could help it. He would find alternatives every time, but there was no better word to describe Gilbert at that moment. Even as Matthew briskly walked through the rain, which was quickly turning into a downpour, the only thing he didn't regret from that conversation was the use of that curse word.

* * *

**Well that escalated. I didn't know how I wanted this argument to start, truly. So we can just say that it's a lot of pent up emotions on Matthew's side, which he most likely has a lot of, considering all of it, and Gilbert just has some anger issues, but we all know that. Anyway, the only two connected chapters this entire fic has are this one and the next one. I can't just leave it like this, can I?**

**So please review.**

**And join me for tomorrow's challenge, Making Up Afterwards, titled "With Me".**


	24. With Me

Day 24 Challenge: Making Up Afterwards

Title: "With Me"

Enjoy!

* * *

Gilbert grumbled to himself as he stared at the door in front of him. He'd been hell bent on apologizing since about a minute after Matthew walked away in the rain. Sure, they had both taken it a little too far, but he couldn't just lose Matthew because of one stupid argument. No way in hell. So he'd knocked on the front door and Alfred glared at him for a while, complaining about how he's the devil because he made Matthew cry or some shit. But Alfred let him in anyway and Gilbert had tried knocking on the door to Matthew's room, but there was no response. Not for 15 fucking minutes.

"I'm not leaving," Gilbert said simply and sat cross-legged in front of the door. "And you gotta leave that room sometime for food and shit. I'm staying right here and I'll wait for that time."

Only silence met him, but that was good enough for Gilbert. He knew that Matthew heard him. After another 10 minutes passed, Gilbert sighed and turned around so that he was leaning against the door. He never did well with silence, he always liked for there to be…something going on. It didn't matter what, silence was just…horrible.

Another ten minutes and Gilbert cracked. "Still here, in case you were curious," Gilbert sighed, arms crossed over his chest as he laid his head against the door. "Because I'm that good as a friend. You better damn well appreciate me for this. Hell if I'm leaving before we both apologize. Yeah, that's right, if I'm apologizing for all of this shit, you are too. I'll even stay here through school if you don't leave for that. I can last without food longer than you can. We'll see how this standoff goes."

After an hour, Gilbert started playing games on his phone, absently talking to his friend through the door as he played Fruit Ninja.

"That teacher just has a stick up his ass, I swear," Gilbert mumbled. "I mean, you throw a stink bomb once and you're a criminal. I know exactly what you'll say to that, too. You'll make that cute as hell giggle and then say something like 'you shouldn't even have a stink bomb, Gil.' You're probably fucking laughing right now, right? You should be. God, this is so boring, you better have a game in there, too, or you're just not easily bored."

More silence. Not even a rustling sound that signified movement. Gilbert groaned and hit his head against the door. This was exhausting. Maybe he should just try the fucking door. If Matthew didn't want to see him, that sucked. Gilbert quickly stored his phone back in his pocket, stood up, and swiftly opened the door.

"I don't even care if you don't wanna see me," Gilbert said as he entered the room, but he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw that it was completely empty. "What?" He scouted around the room, finding no trace of the teenager anywhere in the absurdly clean room. Seriously, what teenager cleaned their room this well? With a heavy groan, Gilbert sat down on Matthew's bed and resumed his old position, cross-legged with arms crossed over his chest. "Fine, I'll just wait here until you get back. You never had the guts to run away for long, anyway."

Another hour of playing games, blasting music from his phone, and Gilbert was still bored, but he was certain that this would all be worth it. The angry text from his brother saying he was still grounded from the last mess up and his parents were pissed was easily ignored. This was more important than if he could leave his house for the next year. He had to make it up to his friend.

Yeah…_friend_. That word was most likely the bane of his existence. Matthew used it all the time and it pissed him off to an extent. He'd had a crush on the damn kid for…years. Since Gilbert met him, really. But he never said anything about it, since Matthew was obviously straight and he said "friend" way too much. Whatever, Gilbert couldn't let that get in the way of the friendship they already had. He could focus on glooming around when he got home and was grounded for life.

"Gil?" a quiet voice asked and Gilbert immediately looked up from his game, shutting off the music. Matthew stood in the doorway of the room, a very confused look on his face. At least he wasn't mad anymore. "What are you doing in my room?"

"Well, I ran here to apologize and you're brother said that you were in here, but he's a fucking liar and I've never trusted him," Gilbert said resolutely. "I didn't want to miss you or anything and I figured you'd eventually come back here, so I waited."

"Wait, have you been here since I got home?" Matthew's eyes widened and Gilbert nodded. "I've been in the basement this whole time playing games with Al."

"Wait, are you fucking serious?" Gilbert blinked at him.

Matthew shook his head. "You….you shouldn't be the one to apologize, I was the one that crossed the line and I started that stupid argument for nothing."

"Nope, I'm apologizing, too," Gilbert said resolutely. "That's what good friends do. We wait in your room for hours while you play fucking video games with your brother in order to apologize to you."

"I would have never thought you would have the patience to wait this long," Matthew chuckled, shaking his head. Gilbert smirked and stood up, quickly crossing the room to stand in front of Matthew. "I really am sorry, I shouldn't have said anything that I did about your or your brother."

"And you're not invisible," Gilbert shook his head. "I am definitely sorry, too." As much as Gilbert hated being serious, it was definitely worth it in this case.

"You should stop flirting so much, though," Matthew shrugged and walked further into his room, past Gilbert.

"Yeah?" Gilbert smirked, leaning against the closest wall. In all honesty, the only reason he flirted and got around so much was because he was sexually frustrated about the fact that he wouldn't be able to get Matthew. At least, that's what his therapists, Francis and Antonio, told him when they talked about it. "How come?"

"I just think you're worth more than whoring yourself around to everyone," Matthew shrugged and the smirk only widened. Matthew hardly ever cursed but it was really funny when he did. Usually, he would stutter before the word, the only exception being when he called Gilbert as asshole earlier.

"That's so sweet," Gilbert teased and raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you think I'm worth more? Does that mean you were just jealous?" At this point, he was just trying to get Matthew to laugh again, get them back on the right track. Sure, he would feel amazing if Matthew really was jealous, but that would never happen, so he just had to roll with it.

"No, of course not," Matthew mumbled, though his face turned a light red.

"You know, if you wanted me to flirt with you, too, you could've just asked me," Gilbert smirked. "Are you an interior decorator?"

"Oh, please no," Matthew shook his head, hiding his face in his hand.

"Because when I saw you, the entire room became beautiful," Gilbert laughed.

"I'm really…fine, you don't have to…"

"If I were a stop light, I'd turn red every time you passed by, just so I could stare at you a bit longer," Gilbert smirked and noticed that Matthew's red face got even worse. Interesting. "Did you sit on a pile of sugar?"

"What?" Matthew looked up at him.

"Because you have a pretty sweet ass," Gilbert cackled as Matthew's entire face turned a deep red. Gilbert swiftly walked up to Matthew and made a show of leaning on him. "Do you know what my shirt is made of?"

"I don't even want to ask at this point," Matthew mumbled.

"Boyfriend material," Gilbert smirked.

"Oh, my God," Matthew laughed. "And here I thought you were actually straight."

"'Course not," Gilbert continued with his role, but decided to chance going with the truth, knowing Matthew wouldn't take anything he said seriously. "Because when I saw you, no girl as beautiful came to mind."

"I feel like I should be slightly offended," Matthew laughed. "You shouldn't compare me to a girl."

"I would never," Gilbert smirked. "You surpass even males in my eyes."

"Okay, are you seriously gay or were you just pretending to be straight this whole time?" Matthew laughed.

"It's called bisexual, thank you," Gilbert bowed. That was…sort of true. He never had an interest in guys until he started to have his crush on Matthew, who was still the only guy he liked. So maybe he was just bi for one person, however the hell that worked.

"Wait, are you serious?" Matthew blinked. "I thought you were actually straight."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm pretty much as straight as you," Gilbert shrugged.

"I'm not straight," Matthew laughed. Gilbert blinked at him. "We've known each other for how long and you haven't even noticed?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Gilbert stood in front of Matthew seriously. "You've been gay this whole time?"

"Yes," Matthew nodded slowly.

"Do you think I'm attractive?" Gilbert asked and Matthew blushed, which was already a yes in itself, but Gilbert wanted to hear this answer.

"Um…I-I guess…yeah…." Matthew attempted to look away and Gilbert smirked in response.

"Ever had a boyfriend?" Gilbert asked.

"No…" Matthew shook his head.

"Wanna be mine?"

"Are you serious right now or are you still messing with me?" Matthew asked. "Just a second ago, you said that you were very straight and-"

Gilbert cut him off by pulling Matthew into a kiss. Matthew seemed surprised at first and didn't make a move. That is, until Gilbert started to advance the kiss, then Matthew did move with him. Gilbert could easily ignore the need for air due to the feeling he got simply by kissing Matthew. It was almost electrifying and he desperately wanted…needed more. He held Matthew as close as possible to him and Matthew seemed to have the same idea, pulling him as close as he could. The two stayed interlocked for what felt like long hours and short seconds at the same time. Finally, both reluctantly pulled away, simply looking into the other's eyes.

"Sure," Matthew panted. "I'll be your boyfriend."

"Good," Gilbert nodded. "That would have been really awkward if you said no."

* * *

**Cuties. I had a very hard time bringing up their sexualities in a simple conversation like that. I can imagine Gilbert would definitely be willing to wait for hours to make up for an argument, but he would get bored very easily. I can't help but wonder what Prussia did in cases like this when there were no games to be played on a hand-held device… Anyway, they made up and this concludes the only two connected one-shots in this fanfic.**

**Please review!**

**And join me for tomorrow's challenge, Gazing Into Each Other's Eyes, titled "Crazy".**


	25. Crazy

Day 25 Challenge: Gazing Into Each Other's Eyes

Title: "Crazy"

Enjoy!

* * *

They were all crazy there, even the ones that were sure they weren't crazy. Gilbert knew he was, he nearly chased some kid he only imagined over the side of a building. People thought he was suicidal, but Gilbert knew that the imaginary kid was the one that was suicidal, he was trying to stop him, nothing else. But adults never listened to him. They just shoved him into a building with a bunch of other crazies and shoved medicine in his face. Any time he got caught talking to someone that wasn't really there, he went to a stupid therapist to talk about his "issues" and what the hallucination "symbolized to him". He hated it there.

"She apparently has some issues with violence," Francis, one of Gilbert's _real_ friends chatted as they sat at a plastic table on plastic chairs. Antonio was there, too, and they were both definitely more crazy than Gilbert. "When I tried to flirt with her, she hit me in the face!"

"Well, what else is new?" Antonio laughed cheerfully. "Anyone you've flirted with has reacted badly."

"Which is why I need to get out of here…" Francis sighed theatrically. "Girls outside would nearly swarm me. All of the girls here are simply crazy and do not understand what true beauty and love is."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it," Gilbert snorted as he half-heartedly scanned through the people in the room. Some were playing board games, some with dolls, some were watching a calm TV show, one of the few that the adults allowed them to watch. They were all teenagers here, but the adults still ruled over everything like they were still six. It was completely obnoxious. Even the bedtime was stupid, 7 PM for crying out loud. Before Gilbert was forced to come here, he was up until 3 AM every day and slept in until noon, even when he had school to worry about. That was the only good thing about being here, they had to focus on "getting better", so they didn't have to worry about school. The more sane you got, though, the adults did start to catch you up with whatever you missed. It was always hard to tell how much time had passed since they got there, Gilbert honestly had no idea how long he'd been there. It could have been anything from a month to a year. The really crazy ones counted how many times they went to sleep, but they also counted times that never really happened, but no one told them that.

Finally, though, Gilbert saw something interesting. Indigo. Well, the closer he looked, it was blue with these beautiful purple specks in it. It seemed to shimmer and Gilbert realized it was someone's eyes. And they were staring right back at him. Gilbert didn't want to move, not even glance away. Those eyes were probably the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen and he didn't want to shatter the vague peace that came with staring into them. Gilbert had always figured that there was nothing interesting about his eyes, everyone said that he was a freak because he was an albino, but the person who owned those indigo eyes seemed entranced as well, staring right into Gilbert's eyes.

"What has you so interested?" Antonio asked curiously beside him and Gilbert bit his lip, daring to look away from those eyes for half a second.

"Don't you see him?" Gilbert asked.

"Is this another one of your…hallucinations?" Francis picked his words carefully. "If it is, we won't tell of course, but it'd be better if you-"

"No, this is real, I swear," Gilbert said resolutely. "I know what's real and what's fake now, at least I have a general idea." He looked back over to the eyes, and spared a glance at the rest of the boy. He had long, wheat blonde hair and a shy frown on his face. He definitely looked uncomfortable. "He's gotta be knew, I've never seen him before."

"Well, I don't see him," Francis shrugged.

"Because you're stupid," Gilbert muttered, staring deep into those eyes again. He couldn't help it, they were gorgeous and he wanted to just look at them forever. "There's no way you can miss those eyes."

"Then go talk to him," Antonio offered. "If you like his eyes, that means his soul's good too, right? Aren't eyes the gateway to the soul or something?"

"Where the hell did you read that, a magazine?" Gilbert scoffed.

"Ah, you know my memory is only so-so today," Antonio shrugged. "I don't even remember my name at this point."

"Antonio," Francis reminded him.

"Who's that?" Antonio asked curiously and Gilbert fought back a laugh. It was against rules to laugh at someone else's crazy, but Antonio didn't even care. He laughed at himself once his memory came back. The adults were always sure that there was going to be a point where Antonio never fully regained his memory, but as far as Gilbert had seen, it always came back, it was just a matter of time.

"Never mind," Francis sighed. "Gilbert, you should talk to him, prove to us that he's there. If you're so sure, that is."

"If he's not, the adults will drag you to therapy, so there's a lot riding on this one!" Antonio laughed.

"I'll make them drag you to therapy, too," Gilbert smirked, still not looking away from those eyes. And then that stupid little bell was rung by the stupid nurse that came in with their meds. Gilbert groaned.

"Oh, I get it!" Antonio started laughing. "Antonio's my name!"

"Yes, mon ami," Francis patted his hand and they stood up, the person that owned those gorgeous eyes breaking contact to stand and disappear in the crowd of teenagers that were getting their meds. Gilbert stood up with his other two friends.

"So you're deciding that your French today?" Gilbert asked.

"It is my favorite nationality," Francis mused. "France is all about l'amour, correct?"

"And the chicks don't shave," Gilbert shrugged, standing in their "orderly" line. Several people had already downed their meds dry, since they were all so used to it already. Gilbert couldn't see the person he'd been looking at, but quickly found him sitting back at where he was just before.

"Minor setback," Francis shrugged, walking ahead of Gilbert to get his meds first. Swallowing them and showing the woman at the cart that he had actually swallowed them. Then it was Gilbert's turn and he quickly took his meds so that he could sit back down with Francis and stare at the boy some more. "So what has you so interested in this person no one else can see? Is it his good looks, natural charm?"

"His eyes," Gilbert mumbled and looked back at the boy, who faintly smiled at him, wrinkling slightly around his eyes, but they still shone brightly.

"Is the rest of him attractive at least?" Francis asked curiously as Antonio flopped down on the chair he was at before.

"It feels like my pills keep getting bigger," Antonio complained, stretching his arms over his head.

"I don't wanna look away from his eyes for long enough to find out," Gilbert mumbled. Suddenly, the boy stood up and Gilbert ignored the next thing his friends said to him. The boy waved at him happily, his bright eyes shining with happiness. And then, much to Gilbert's horror, the boy disappeared. "No…"

"What happened to him?" Francis asked curiously.

"He wasn't…" Gilbert mumbled, turning back to his friends and staring at the table. "Fuck…I thought he was…"

"Ah," Francis nodded.

"Sorry, man," Antonio sighed, patting Gilbert's back. Gilbert just shook his head and closed his eyes. He could still see that indigo color clearly in his head. He had been so _sure_ that time. That boy _had_ to be real. Gilbert couldn't make up a color that beautiful in his mind, all his creativity had been sapped by these white walls and floors and windows.

"I'm never taking meds again if I can see him again," Gilbert muttered quietly to himself, hoping that his friends didn't actually hear him.

* * *

**I loved this idea the minute I came up with it. I don't know much about places like this, I've seen a few movies and read a few other fics and novels on it, but that doesn't really mean much when I have no idea what I'm talking about. Anyway, I really have no clue what is actually wrong with Francis and Antonio's heads and I'm sure Gil doesn't even know all of what's going on, but we know that Gilbert hallucinates and he can't tell the difference between real and fake. Poor Mattie…Poor Gil…**

**Anyway, please review! It's nice.**

**And join me for tomorrow's challenge, Getting Married, titled "Drunk".**


	26. Drunk

Day 26 Challenge: Getting Married

Title: "Drunk"

Enjoy!

* * *

Matthew's head hurt. It was pounding. He felt like he had to puke. He probably already had. He didn't want to move, but he knew he would have to. Stupid Alfred…making him come to Vegas…Stupid bartender…kept giving him drinks. He even told the man to stop! But then there were more drinks and who was Matthew to say no? Okay, he could have gone around that better. A hand shakily went up to massage his forehead, but something cold and hard on his hand hit his head and Matthew hissed.

What the hell was that?

More importantly…As Matthew was becoming more aware, he noticed that there was something slung over his waist. He vaguely glanced towards it and saw a pale hand. Another thing to note was the fact that his chest was bare, along with his legs, as he quickly noticed. Matthew chanced a glance behind him, hoping he just managed to get some hooker into bed or something. But he was greeted with the face of a sleeping man.

"Okay," Matthew let out a shaky breath. He could do this, he could piece together what was going on. For now…he had to focus on quietly wriggling away from the man, who also happened to be very, very naked. Matthew winced, however, when the man beside him groaned, signaling that he was slowly waking up. "Maple…" Matthew muttered to himself, searching for some possible way out of this. His face already felt like it was on fire and he had to force himself to breathe deeply in order to collect his thoughts. He should just sit up and get away from the man. That would be a good idea. However, just the idea of sitting up made Matthew queasy. He couldn't do this.

"Fuck, my head," the person beside Matthew grumbled and, thankfully, moved his arm away and turned around. Matthew let out a quiet sigh of relief, moving away from the man even more. "Wait…Who the hell are you?" He had turned around to face Matthew again and Matthew was fairly startled when he noticed that the man was albino. What were the chances of getting drunk in Vegas and getting in bed with a (fairly good looking) albino?

"Who are you?" Was what Matthew returned with and the man blinked at him.

"Are both of us naked right now?" the person asked and Matthew shakily nodded. "Okay, well, my ass doesn't hurt, which means either your ass should hurt or this is even more awkward than it already is."

Matthew bit his lip and looked away. His blush was definitely worse. The more he noticed, over the painful pounding in his head, he did feel a slight pain in his butt. He'd never had sex with a guy in the past, but he figured that meant that he was bottom…

"I'm Gilbert," the man said after a while of quiet.

"Matthew."

"Do you remember anything?"

"No."

"Well, fuck," Gilbert groaned and slowly sat upright. Matthew glanced back at him and noticed that his chest was extremely toned, like he worked out frequently. Matthew simply curled further into the blankets, slowly wishing that he could die. "Wait, is that a ring on your finger?"

"I guess so," Matthew mumbled, examining his hand a little closer. It was silver and honestly a little cheap looking. It was on his ring finger, which could only mean one of two things. Either he was drunk and just put a ring on a random finger, which was most likely, or he got married while he was drunk.

"Are you married?" Gilbert asked and Matthew glanced at him. His stomach dropped when he noticed that Gilbert had a ring on his finger, too. Which meant that he either cheated on someone…or this was a very, very bad situation to be in.

"Are you?"

"What?" Gilbert asked and looked down at his hand. "Not since the last time I checked." He looked closer at the ring, squinting slightly at it. "Fuck my eyesight. What the hell is this? I'm not married."

"I'm not, either," Matthew mumbled and decided to take the chance to sit upright, thankful that he didn't barf, thought he nearly did. He vaguely noticed that there were a few hickey marks on Gilbert's neck and collarbone and chose to ignore them. He moved his hand close to Gilbert's, shakily, and noticed that the rings were strikingly similar, despite his also poor eyesight since his glasses were elsewhere. "Um."

"Shit," Gilbert cursed.

And then Matthew puked. He keeled over the edge of the bed and puked out what felt like nothing, since his stomach was already churning and empty. He felt a little better, in all honesty, as he closed his eyes and stayed in his position.

"We need more information," Gilbert said. "This room doesn't look familiar to me, are we in yours?"

"Maybe," Matthew muttered and looked around the room. He saw a familiar suitcase that definitely belonged to him, as it had his polar bear stuffed animal poking out of it. Alfred, who had somehow managed to convince Matthew to come to Las Vegas with him, had gotten them a suite, meaning there were two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a nice little kitchenette that they never used, and a wonderful view over their little patio. Matthew glanced at the time on the bedside clock and saw that it was 4 in the afternoon. Which meant going into the main room would involve being greeted by very bright sunlight. "Yeah."

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do," Gilbert said. "We'll split up, I'll…magically find my room, we'll get information, and meet back up, since I'm pretty sure this means we're involved with each other now. You got a phone?"

"Yeah," Matthew nodded. He was smart enough to not brink his phone with him when he went to go drinking with Alfred. Last time he had a phone on him and he was drunk…things didn't turn out so well. "It's in the main room."

"Sweet, we can exchange numbers, then," Gilbert mumbled. "My phone at least was in my pants, wherever those are…"

"I don't know where my clothes are, either," Matthew sighed.

"Fuck it," Gilbert sighed and stood up, out of bed. Matthew immediately looked in the opposite direction. "What? Are you shy now? It's obvious you've at least seen this much of me, whether it be drunk or sober."

"Just…no," Matthew shook his head and Gilbert laughed. It was weak, most likely due to the fact that his head still hurt and Matthew was thankful. Gilbert seemed like the kind of person that was normally very loud.

"Found it," Gilbert said triumphantly, and something landed with a thump in front of Matthew on the bed. "Put your number in it." Matthew glanced at the phone that laid in front of him. He unlocked it with a swipe of his thumb and immediately blushed upon seeing the background picture. Matthew, obviously drunk, was making out with Gilbert, who had an eye cracked open at the phone, which he was obviously taking a crooked selfie with. Matthew swiftly put in his contact and put the phone back down. "Holy shit, is that my background picture?" Gilbert laughed even harder once he picked up his phone again. Matthew braved a glance up at him and saw that he had pants on, thankfully, but still remained without a shirt. "That's fucking great, I'll look through other pictures and tell you if I find anything."

"Right," Matthew mumbled and Gilbert kneeled down to pick up a shirt that he slung over his shoulder.

"Since you're apparently shy now, unlike last night," Gilbert smirked as he walked towards the door, apparently recovering easily enough from his hangover. "I'll head out now. Call me, babe." He snickered as he left and Matthew stayed in the bed for another five minutes, taking deep breaths. He really hoped he wasn't actually married to this guy.

Finally, he carefully got up, avoiding his pool of vomit, and swiftly got himself dressed. Gilbert had apparently taken his shirt, as the one Matthew had held the logo of a band he'd never heard of and was also too big on him. With a heavy sigh, Matthew went through his luggage to pick out a different shirt before braving the main room. The light nearly blinded him and he silently cursed under his breath. He swiftly walked over to Alfred's room, seeing as Gilbert had already left the suite, and entered without knocking.

Alfred was sprawled, face first on his bed, thankfully alone.

"Alfred," Matthew said loudly and clearly and his brother looked up blearily at him.

"What, man?" Alfred mumbled, obviously still half asleep.

"Did I get married last night?"

"Oh, yeah," Alfred laughed. "It was hilarious, dude!"

* * *

"I can't believe you just let me get married to a stranger," Matthew mumbled, glaring at his brother, who was sitting next to him at a table of a restaurant. Gilbert sat across from them, lounging comfortably with a smirk.

"You guys look so similar, it's fucking awesome," Gilbert laughed. "I've never seen twins before, this is pretty cool."

"I don't see what's so bad about this guy," Alfred shrugged.

"He was willing to get married while he was drunk!" Matthew stated.

"Well, so were you," Alfred smirked and Gilbert laughed again. Matthew groaned, placing his head in his hands.

"We should just…get a divorce and move on with our lives," Matthew mumbled.

"Why?" Gilbert asked and Matthew looked up at him like he was crazy. "Okay, hear me out for a second, Jesus Christ, don't give me the death glare. You know how you always say the truth when you're drunk, like the truth always comes out or some shit? What if being drunk was like have a relationship and it just sped up the process a lot? What if we really are compatible?"

"And you're crazy, too," Matthew muttered, shaking his head.

"Hey, I've been drunk plenty of times to know that the truth just kinda spills outta you," Gilbert crossed his arms over his chest resolutely.

"It's not a good thing to admit that you're a drunk," Matthew sighed.

"I didn't say I was a drunk," Gilbert rolled his eyes. "I just said that I get drunk often."

"You two are already having your first lover's quarrel," Alfred snickered and Matthew glared at him. "Okay, okay, I'm shutting up now. I don't even know why you dragged me with you here anyway. If you're afraid he's gonna rape you, you two have already had sex, and apparently enjoyed it based on both of your hickeys."

"Alfred!" Matthew's blush returned with a vengeance, hand going to cover up the side of his neck that could be seen with a number of hickeys.

"I say give it a shot," Alfred shrugged. "Why the hell not?"

"Because he's a stranger," Matthew sighed and looked at Gilbert. "I'm a stranger to you. For all you know, I could be a serial killer with bodies buried in my backyard."

"Then let's get to know each other," Gilbert smirked, leaning over the table slightly.

"How will I know that you're telling the truth?" Matthew asked.

"As long as you have reason to tell the truth, I have reason to as well," Gilbert shrugged. "What's the harm?"

"There is so much that can go wrong here," Matthew shook his head, staring at the table. "I shouldn't even be considering this."

"You could just consider yourself insanely lucky that you got an awesome guy like me to be your husband," Gilbert boasted. "I mean, you could have gotten married to a lunatic!"

"You are definitely not helping anything here," Matthew sighed.

"How about this," Gilbert sighed and Matthew looked up at him. He wore a serious expression that honestly didn't look natural on him. "From the small amount of time I've known you, I hereby solemnly swear that I trust you and care about you enough to protect and love you 'till death do we part."

"Why would you say something like that?" Matthew asked. "You don't even know me that well at all and-"

"I live by going off of my guts," Gilbert shrugged. "My guts say that you're an awesome person that I can trust with my life, so I'm gonna. Even if we divorce or whatever the hell, I'll probably still hang around you, I have your number, right?"

"I can be here to protect you from rape, too, if you need me," Alfred chimed and Matthew groaned, leaning back in his seat.

"How about you live by your guts for once?" Gilbert smirked. "Don't think about it logically, look at me and think about if you would be willing to trust me enough to have me around in your life."

"Absolutely not," Matthew answered honestly.

And yet, several years in the future, in a small apartment that the two shared, Matthew's husband constantly asked him the same question, over and over again, always more happy with the answer than he was the last time.

"Do you remember Vegas?"

* * *

**So, I did the after the wedding bit, but there was still a vow in there with Gilbert. I honestly didn't want to do anything too serious on this case, because I honestly don't think these two do well with serious. Like, Gilbert at a wedding would be a train wreck, even if it is his own wedding. Anyway, I don't condone marrying random, sexy albinos that you meet while drunk, Matthew is very smart to be wary, this could be incredibly dangerous. But Gilbert is harmless, most of the time, we all know that, right?**

**Anyway, please review!**

**And join me for tomorrow's challenge, On One of Their Birthdays, titled "Forgotten".**


	27. Forgotten

Day 27 Challenge: On One of Their Birthdays

Title: "Forgotten"

Enjoy!

* * *

It just wasn't that big of a deal anymore. It was a…touchy subject. For a few people. Not Prussia, obviously. It wasn't like he cared or anything unawesome like that. It was just…it was just forgotten. Forever.

He let out a deep sigh and rolled over on the couch. No, he was not sulking in Germany's basement, which doubled as his room. That would be lame. And he most certainly was not lame. Gilbird cheeped above him, landing on his head and Prussia grumbled under his breath. Why did today always have to be like this? Why couldn't it just be a normal day? He could just go on with his life as he normally did, playing video games or hanging out with his Birdie, but no. He had to just stay in the basement and…not-sulk. He definitely wasn't sulking. He was better than that.

Another groan and he turned around again to glare at the calendar that was across from him, pinned to the wall at Germany's request so that he would know what day it was when he locked himself in the basement for days at a time to game. And the stupid day just sat there, making fun of him. Every fucking year. January 18th. The forming of the Kingdom of Prussia…Which no longer existed.

It was fine. He was fine. His technical title now was East Germany. That meant that his birthday moved to be Germany's (not the forming of East Germany, because that day just brought back bad memories). Which was fine. It was just that he was so used to that day being his birthday. And now it was just some random day where people went about his business. Only historians knew that it was the day the Kingdom of Prussia was formed. Historians and…well…Prussia. Germany knew, but he had no idea what the hell he was supposed to do while Prussia not-sulked, so he just went off with Italy and Japan to do something. Leaving Prussia alone with Gilbird. To not-sulk.

And then the doorbell rang. Prussia jumped slightly, as the entire house had been quiet before that moment and slowly got up from the couch. He wasn't exactly in the best shape, but it didn't matter. It was probably just some telemarketer or, if he was lucky, the package that he had ordered online a few days ago. He easily wound his way through the familiar house before he finally reached the front door, walking slowly. If it was a telemarketer, they would have rung again, impatient bastards, so he ruled that out. Which meant it could easily be his package.

What greeted him when he finally opened the front door, however, he did not expect. Canada, holding a neat, little red box with a bow on top of it. The nation jumped when Prussia opened the door, but gave him a soft smile.

"What are you doing here?" Prussia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, um, well," Canada mumbled, blushing cutely. Prussia smirked. "Pretty much the week we started…dating…I did some research, since I didn't know a lot about you and I saw that the date that the Kingdom of Prussia was founded was…well…today. And I figured that you would usually treat something like that as a birthday, it just kind of made sense. But if you don't celebrate it today anymore, I could easily just-"

Prussia stopped him by tightly pulling the Canadian into a tight hug. Canada squeaked slightly, but slowly hugged him back.

"Thank you," Prussia muttered under his breath, knowing the soft-spoken nation had heard him. It meant a lot, he admitted. This day, everything. He definitely cared and he could put up the façade for as long as he wanted, but Canada just had to waltz in there and break it.

"Um, Prussia," Canada spoke up again. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Prussia smiled as he pulled back. "No, everything is awesome. Come in." He made room for Canada to enter and followed him to the kitchen, where the red box was placed by slightly nervous hands.

"Is no one here?" Canada asked. "Not even France or Spain?"

"Today just isn't that big of a deal anymore," Prussia shrugged, standing in front of Canada. "No one's really sure about what to do about it, so they just kind of forget about it all together. It doesn't matter, I mean-"

"Why forget about it?" Canada asked.

"The Kingdom of Prussia doesn't exist," Prussia shrugged. "Why should it have a birthday?"

"Just because it doesn't exist anymore doesn't mean everything it did can be forgotten," Canada said. "You managed to do a lot of amazing things as the Kingdom of Prussia. That much I know from the hours I spent on Wikipedia and other websites. That history isn't going to disappear anytime soon. I say have a birthday for the memories and accomplishments, if nothing else."

"I love you," Prussia blurted out before pulling Canada into a kiss. The Canadian jumped again, but went along with it anyway, as always. They stayed there for as long as their lungs would allow before pulling away. "I love you so much. What the hell did I do to deserve you?"

"Go to Wikipedia to find out," Canada laughed slightly.

"So, what did you get me?" Prussia asked curiously, picking up the box to carefully examine it.

"You'll have to open it to find that out," Canada smiled. "Just telling you isn't the point of giving a gift."

"Yeah, yeah," Prussia mumbled and opened the lid of the small box. Inside was a glass bottle shaped like a maple leaf filled with a dark liquid. Prussia carefully picked it up and examined it closer in the light and his eyes widened upon realization of what it was. "Holy shit is this Canadian syrup?"

"I wasn't really sure what you get you, but you said that you really liked pancakes, too, and so I thought that it would be a good idea," Canada mumbled. He always rambled when he was nervous, it was adorable.

"Thanks, Birdie," Prussia smirked, placing a quick peck on Canada's lips. It was then that Gilbird made his presence known by landing in Canada's hair. The nation hardly seemed to notice, though, apparently already used to Gilbird's affections. "It's awesome."

"You're welcome," Canada smiled. "So, would you want to go out and do something? By the looks of you, you haven't left the house yet today."

"How about we stay in here?" Prussia smirked, tossing the syrup between his hands. "We could kick your bruder's ass at video games and eat junk food all day."

"Is that really what you want to do on your birthday?" Canada asked. "That's what you do every day."

"The difference with today that makes it special is that you're here," Prussia smirked. "And that's all I need to make it worthy of a celebration for the awesome me."

"Really?" Canada snorted.

"Don't doubt your awesomeness, kid," Prussia laughed, messing up Canada's hair. "Now, come on," he started pulling him to the basement. "If we're lucky, he won't remember by online name and we can hear him shout at me."

"I'm pretty sure AwesomeMe4TheWin is a pretty easy name to remember for you," Canada laughed, but followed him anyway.

"We can still hear him shout at me, then," Prussia shrugged. "Either way, it's hilarious."

"Right," Canada laughed, shaking his head.

And that was what made January 18th awesome again.

* * *

**I like to think that Canada makes a point to make sure no one else is forgotten like him. He's smart, he knows that the whole Prussia thing is a delicate situation, he just knew that he should celebrate Prussia's original birthday. Which is sweet. I love these two as countries, it puts a different spin on their relationship.**

**Anyway, please review!**

**And join me for tomorrow's challenge, Doing Something Ridiculous, titled "Working".**


	28. Working

Day 28 Challenge: Doing Something Ridiculous

Title: "Working"

Enjoy!

* * *

It was winter. Hardly anyone came to get ice cream in the winter; that was just a fact. But they still needed people to man the shop, and on the day of a blizzard, it just happened to be Matthew and Gilbert. Matthew was perfectly fine with sitting around and doing nothing, but Gilbert was apparently bored, as evident through the amount of times he was changing the song on his iPod, which he was playing through speakers he brought there.

"We need to do something," Gilbert groaned, glaring out of the wall of windows that made the front of the store. They were behind the counter that held all of the frozen ice cream and, after that border, there were perfectly placed round tables that would have been bursting if it were Summer time.

"You can try cleaning the scoops again," Matthew shrugged and Gilbert glared at him.

"No, I mean really do something," Gilbert sighed and stared out the window some more. "If it weren't a fucking blizzard, I'd say we have a snowball fight, but it's fucking cold out there."

"And it's so hard to put on a jacket," Matthew sighed sarcastically, leaning back on a counter. "It's kind of nice to just have some time alone to do nothing together, if you ask me." The only reason Matthew had met Gilbert was because of this job and they had hit it off fairly well together. Luckily, no one else they worked with knew that they were actually dating at this point, otherwise, they would never have a shift together.

"But doing nothing is so boring," Gilbert groaned theatrically. Suddenly, the song changed to an upbeat one. Some new song everyone at school was obsessed with, but Matthew hardly paid any attention to. Gilbert seemed very happy with it, however, a devilish smirk growing on his face. "Dance with me."

"What?" Matthew asked.

"Don't ask questions," Gilbert laughed, quickly grabbing hold of Matthew's wrist and pulling him around the counter and to the tables. He quickly twirled Matthew around, causing the smaller of the two to laugh slightly. "Wait! I gotta get ready for the guitar solo!" Gilbert immediately rushed back behind the counter before coming back seconds later with a broom, which he twirled proudly in his hands.

"I don't see what the big deal about this song is," Matthew laughed, shaking his head.

"Just wait until you hear the pure skill put into that guitar solo," Gilbert smirked before quickly jumping onto a chair and then onto a table. "C'mon."

"That is incredibly dangerous and you'll have to wipe down that table," Matthew crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head once again.

"Yeah, yeah, but we're here for a few more hours! Let's have fun!" Gilbert smirked, holding out a hand for Matthew to take. Matthew sighed, looking out at the white outside of the windows. He really couldn't see anything else through the blizzard. He definitely wasn't looking forward to driving home in that. "Don't be a loser, come on!"

"If we get in trouble, the blame is going on you," Matthew sighed and took the hand, allowing himself to be pulled up by Gilbert. They stood fairly close, the tables fairly small.

"When doesn't it?" Gilbert laughed and moved his feet to the beat of the music so that the table started rocking, resulting in Matthew holding onto him a little tighter to make sure he didn't fall off.

"You are crazy," Matthew laughed and swiftly jumped to the safety of another table, which wobbled slightly but stayed in place. Finally, that guitar solo started and Gilbert started jamming out on his broom, kneeling over with the force of it. Matthew giggled as Gilbert moved his broom as the guitar made different noises. "You almost make me believe that you can play guitar."

"If I really put my mind to it, I could," Gilbert laughed as the song continued, the guitar morphing into the background again. And then Gilbert started singing. Matthew realized that this was basically like a love song and Gilbert's off-key voice was practically serenading him. And then he saw that Gilbert was about to jump to his new table and managed to jump away at the perfect time to avoid him, the tables rocking dangerously. Once again, Matthew jumped off of a table to avoid Gilbert and they continued hopping around tables, some of them crashing onto the ground loudly. Finally, Matthew jumped onto the ground, Gilbert hot on his heels. "You can't escape from me!"

"Wanna bet?" Matthew laughed. He hadn't noticed that the song had changed to the next popular pop song and he wondered why Gilbert had so much of that on his iPod. He attempted to continue running, but Gilbert swiftly held onto his wrist, twirled him once again, placed an arm securely around his waist, and moved him in an exaggerated dip.

"I've always wanted to do a kiss like this," Gilbert smirked and Matthew blushed slightly, but he would never admit to that.

"Is this what you fantasize about?" Matthew laughed. "Making out in an ice cream store to Lorde?"

"Don't knock her," Gilbert pouted. "She's a great artist."

"Whatever you say," Matthew rolled his eyes and Gilbert started to slowly (and extremely theatrically) pull him closer for a kiss. Just before the two kissed, the bell above the door rang and they were greeted by a rush of cold air and snow. A person, a man by the sound of it, made an indignant noise.

"Run for your lives!" Gilbert shouted and dropped Matthew onto the ground, running behind the counter as Matthew attempted to recover. The man who had entered was a regular, a Brit named Arthur. The blush on Matthew's face was furious as he mumbled an unintelligible apology before scrambling to his feet and ducking behind the counter as well. He saw Gilbert crouched behind the counter with a finger to his lips. "If he doesn't see us, he might go away sooner."

"He already saw us," Matthew scoffed at him

"I think it might just be best if I didn't get anything today," Arthur sighed, swiftly turning around and leaving the store, having to shove the door closed in the wind outside.

"Told ya so," Gilbert said proudly.

"Clean up those tables," Matthew sighed impatiently.

"One sec, I didn't finish what I started," Gilbert smirked and swiftly jumped to his feet, holding onto Matthew's head as he gave him a swift kiss, before ducking back to the other side of the counter to put the tables back into place.

"You are so embarrassing," Matthew shook his head and sat onto the floor.

"Who the fuck gets ice cream in a blizzard?" Gilbert scoffed. "I figured we'd be fine goofing around, but Big Brows is just crazy."

Another song started and Gilbert shouted about how awesome it was and picked up his broom again for the opening guitar solo. Matthew looked out at the white blizzard outside. No one else would come into the store, right? He bit his lip and went around the counter as well to join Gilbert.

* * *

**I got this idea at work. I happen to work at the Dairiest Queen in all the land (something we actually say to people at drive thru) and I can't wait for those winter days where we get literally five customers. At my work, we don't listen to pop music, though. We listen to folk metal, classic rock, screamo, and classical. Because why not. Anyway, I feel a little bad for Arthur, having to walk in for his ice cream and get greeted by something like that. That's what you get for being crazy and wanting ice cream during a blizzard.**

**Please review!**

**And join me for tomorrow's challenge, Doing Something Sweet, titled "Paparazzi".**


	29. Paparazzi

Day 29 Challenge: Doing Something Sweet

Title: "Paparazzi"

Enjoy!

* * *

Matthew Williams was shy, not many people knew that. Most people saw him only as they did in the movies, but he was just a good actor. When he wasn't around many people, he was shy and awkward and adorable. Gilbert knew. Of course he knew. Ever since that one day he managed to bump into the movie star when he was caught off guard, he fell in love. Deeply. He went to all of the autograph signings, but never got an autograph. He actually just liked watching the actor, the small nervous ticks he would get, but made sure not to show anyone else because he didn't like large crowds. How he was always extremely polite to everyone but his brother, but again that was done quietly. The small quirk of his smile for people that wanted pictures. But Gilbert managed to get a real smile caught on camera. Naturally, he knew he couldn't just take a picture of the actor without paying, so when no one was looking, he paid the 20 dollars that paid for the picture he took in secret. A picture he would treasure forever.

He knew it sounded weird and…stalkerish, maybe, but he loved the pictures he was able to take of the actor, treasuring each one in secret. When he went for walks alone in the park, when he ate at that one Italian place, when he dozed off in the limo after a long day of work. Matthew Williams was always beautiful. And Gilbert loved to think about what they would look like together. But he never dared to tamper with the perfect photos he got, he would never risk messing them up. So he had to settle with his imagination. Which was fine.

There were times in that little Italian restaurant where Gilbert could hear Matthew talking to the people that owned it (Gilbert never went inside, he wasn't stupid), and he was always kind and respectful, and a tad shy as always. He was adorable and Gilbert loved him. He had to find subtle ways to get Matthew to fall for him, so they could be together. He wouldn't force the actor into anything, but they were perfect for each other, he was sure. They just had to get to know each other a little better.

Finally, one day, a miracle happened. Matthew was leaving a studio where they were reading over lines for a movie and there were quite a few stairs between the door and the street. Matthew was alone and was extremely tired, which happened often. His yawns were adorable. Gilbert saw it happening before it actually happened. Matthew's foot stumbled and Gilbert immediately sprang into action. Matthew fell and Gilbert caught him easily. He was lighter than Gilbert imagined he would be, but he made this adorable sound of surprise. Those indigo eyes looked up at him before he moved away, too quickly, out of Gilbert's arms.

"Thank you," came his beautiful, quiet voice.

"No problem," Gilbert shrugged. "I saw you trip and I was just walking by. I couldn't let someone just fall like that. Definitely not awesome." He had to act cool. His heart was pounding in his chest and his mind was going haywire. He was actually talking to Matthew Williams.

"That was very good luck," Matthew smiled at him. "If I had hurt myself, I don't know what Arthur would say." Arthur was his manager, the one that got him all of his roles. It made sense that if Matthew got hurt and he was out of commission for a while, Arthur would be upset.

"Hey, uh, you're that actor, right?" Gilbert asked. "Matthew Williams?"

"Uh, yeah," Matthew slumped just slightly. Not enough for a random bystander to see, but enough for Gilbert's trained eye to catch. "Look, if you want anything, you did save me, so I won't mind, really."

"Oh, no, I don't want anything," Gilbert shrugged. He knew how to get into Matthew's good graces. Recognize who he was and don't ask for anything special. Treat him like a regular person. That way Matthew would think that, even though Gilbert knew who he was, he didn't care. "I just thought it was awesome, that I could meet a real actor." Gilbert inwardly cursed at the amount of times he was using the word awesome. He wasn't that nervous, jeez.

"Oh, well, it was nice meeting you, then, uh…" Matthew paused, waiting for Gilbert's name.

"Gilbert."

"Nice meeting you, Gilbert," Matthew smiled, one of those true smiles that made Gilbert's heart flutter so fast he thought he was about to have a heart attack. That was a smile directed at _him_.

"You, too," Gilbert smiled and nonchalantly stuck his hands in his pockets as Matthew walked away and went on his own way. For only a few seconds before he turned around and followed Matthew as usual. He knew the path Matthew took to get home from that studio. One thing Gilbert always admired about the actor was that, despite living in New York City, he wasn't afraid to walk around on his own. Gilbert was around to protect him, though, so nothing bad could happen to him.

* * *

It was a few more days until something else happened. Days filled with dreaming about that smile and replaying the conversation a thousand times in his head. He took more pictures, paying for each one in secret, naturally, and loved each one more than the last. And then Gilbert's luck was even better than before. He was leaning casually against a grocery store. Matthew was going to be walking by in just a minute to pick up a few things. Before Matthew came, however, an extremely suspicious man walked by, dressed in black and wearing a ski mask. He was holding a very large duffle bag in one hand, and in another, very poorly concealed, was a pistol. Immediately, Gilbert's mind started whirring and the man entered the grocery store. He had to keep Matthew out of there, he could get hurt.

Matthew walked by and Gilbert immediately sprung into action, holding onto Matthew's soft wrist.

"I wouldn't go in there," Gilbert said quickly and Matthew gave him an odd look that was almost afraid, before he recognized him. Matthew opened his mouth to question, but a shot was fired inside the store and there was screaming, multiple people running out of it as fast as possible.

"Oh, my God," Matthew mumbled. "We have to call the police," he muttered and immediately pulled out his phone. It occurred to Gilbert that he thought of warning Matthew before the police, but that didn't matter much. As long as Matthew was safe, nothing else mattered. The police were told eventually, anyway. Matthew stayed with Gilbert, saying "thank you"s for the warning while they waited for the police to arrive. It was a few, blissful minutes of just the two of them. Matthew was incredibly nervous the whole time, looking at the store and hoping everyone was alright. Gilbert didn't care, really. Matthew was safe and sound. Nothing would harm him as long as Gilbert could help it.

The police arrived eventually, took the shooter into custody, and asked around. Gilbert told them that he could distinguish the man easily enough in the crowd and told them that he thought of saving more people from the shooting before informing the police, which earned him a good pat on the back from the older gentlemen. In reality, Gilbert had only thought of saving Matthew, but saying something like that put him even more in Matthew's good graces.

Eventually, Matthew had to leave, and since cops were still crawling around everywhere, Gilbert carefully chose his path to look like he wasn't following Matthew. He knew these streets well, especially after he started following Matthew around. Now he was more determined than ever. This was the second time he had saved Matthew. If that wasn't a sign that they were meant to be together, then nothing was.

* * *

After another week, Gilbert saved him from being trampled by a mob in a mall, hiding away with him in a random department store until the coast was clear. After a few days, Matthew nearly went to restaurant that had rats and Gilbert convinced him to go someplace else. Matthew saw that it was closed just the next day. Another week and Gilbert caught him after a biker nearly made Matthew trip into the water at a dock where he was admiring a sunset. Matthew was thankful each time, but Gilbert could see that he was starting to get nervous at the amount of times Gilbert was showing up. Gilbert was taking less pictures now, as the amount of time he could spend with the actor was more than enough to get him through the day.

But then something went wrong. Matthew had gone to see a movie, something that was the direct opposite of the one he was currently working on, and it was nighttime. He was about to cross a street and Gilbert noticed that the person driving had fallen asleep at the wheel. He immediately pulled Matthew out of the road, just in time to avoid the driver.

"Gilbert?" Was Matthew's first question after he recovered from the shock. "Again?"

"I'm just really lucky, huh?" Gilbert said nervously, scratching the back of his head. Matthew was definitely weary around him now. Gilbert was always there when he was about to get in trouble, but that was because he was following him. Matthew didn't have to know that. If Gilbert could chalk it up to luck, that would be the best situation.

"You're always there," Matthew muttered. "Are you following me or something?"

That was the one question Gilbert didn't want him to ask. Gilbert would never lie to Matthew's face, not a blatant lie like saying no to a question like that. Gilbert hesitated and bit his lip. Matthew saw this and hesitantly took a small step back.

"Are you following me?" Matthew asked again.

"Uh…yeah…" Gilbert said slowly, wincing.

"Are you…stalking me?" Matthew asked now.

Gilbert desperately wanted to say no. Matthew wasn't smiling at him anymore. He stopped smiling after Gilbert saved him from the mob at the mall. Gilbert was always there to save him, of course it looked suspicious. They were always in different places, when Gilbert saved him. He should have been more careful, then Matthew wouldn't have noticed that he was following him. Gilbert didn't answer him and Matthew took another step back.

"Thank you, very much for saving me all of those times," Matthew said carefully, picking his words like he was dealing with a crazy person. If he thought Gilbert was a stalker, of course he'd think he was crazy. "But please, don't follow me. I can take care of myself."

Gilbert was about to say that it was obvious he couldn't with how many times Gilbert had saved him, but he held his tongue. He wanted to stay in Matthew's good graces, he really did. But if he was always around and his lack of an answer just proved that he was a stalker, then he couldn't really say anything.

"I'm sorry," Gilbert tried to apologize, but Matthew just started walking away. And he glanced back, multiple times, to make sure Gilbert wasn't following him. So for the first night in months, Gilbert didn't follow him to make sure he made it home alright. He sat in his bed and his mind raced with all of the possibilities of what could have happened to Matthew now that Gilbert wasn't there to protect him.

* * *

It was a whole month. Gilbert followed Matthew, a lot more discretely. He watched Matthew trip quite a few times and Matthew seemed satisfied with the fact that Gilbert didn't rush to save him. It was heartbreaking, to say the truth. Gilbert loved him, very much, but Matthew obviously didn't. He wouldn't force anything on the actor. He could be fine with his pictures, but nothing was better than that smile Matthew would give him.

However, one night, Gilbert couldn't just stand back and watch anymore. A thug shoved Matthew into an alleyway suddenly and Gilbert immediately ran into action. He was far away, however, and it took him a few seconds to reach the alleyway. When he got there, the man, obviously shaking, was about to shoot the gun he was holding to Matthew's head. Gilbert ran up to him, knocking the man away and grabbing the hand that was holding the gun. The man fired, but the bullet thankfully only fired up. The man continued to fire and Gilbert cursed. This was attracting a lot of attention. Finally, he ran out of bullets and Gilbert tore the gun out of his hands, hitting the butt end of it to the man's head and the thug dropped to the ground.

"Gilbert?" Matthew asked quietly. He was obviously terrified and Gilbert immediately dropped the gun, as he saw red and blue lights flashing around them.

"I'm sorry," Gilbert muttered. "I wasn't going to…I haven't for…He was going to shoot you, I couldn't let that happen." He dared to turn towards Matthew, whose eyes were wide with fear. "I'll leave or…you can turn me into the police but…"

The policemen shoved their way into the alley and quickly assessed the situation. Gilbert stood still as they questioned Matthew. He was expecting the actor to go ahead and tell them that Gilbert was stalking him. To get him out of his hair. With police intervention and probably a restraining order, Gilbert would never see Matthew again. His pictures would be taken away. He wouldn't know what to do with his life anymore.

"I was being mugged, but I didn't have anything," Matthew explained slowly. "The mugger didn't believe me and attempted to shoot, but…Gilbert saved me. He knocked the man out to protect me." And now Gilbert was surprised. Matthew hadn't told them anything about him. When the police officers asked him their relationship with each other, Matthew responded with a simple, "He's my friend." And no other words in the world could have made Gilbert happier.

The police officers questioned him next and he was able to stretch the truth enough to make it seem like he was really just passing by and saw his…his friend…in trouble and saved him. The police lugged the passed out mugger into their car and drove off, after a medic made sure both men were in good condition. They had no further questions to ask them.

And after the lights were gone, Gilbert felt something on his cheek. It took him a second to fully register what it was, but he eventually ascertained that it was a pair of lips, silky soft. His cheek felt like it was on fire, even after the lips were removed.

"Thank you," Matthew said softly. "You saved my life."

Gilbert was speechless. He had expected Matthew to be scared of him, after finding out that he was still following him. But Matthew gave him that sincere smile.

"Give me your number," Matthew said, pulling out his phone. Gilbert slowly obeyed and he understood when Matthew didn't offer to give Gilbert his number. "I will call you if I decide that I really do want to be friends. In the meantime, as much as I am thankful, truly, that you saved my life a few times now, please stop following me."

"Of course," Gilbert mumbled and watched as Matthew walked away.

Gilbert slowly moved home, feeling as though he was in a daze. And he was extremely surprised when he saw that he got a text from an unknown number, who he supposed was Matthew. They were to meet at a café on a busy corner at noon, in broad daylight. Matthew did want to hang out with him, but he was just going to be wary at first.

The first thing Gilbert did that day, before leaving his apartment, was throw away all of the pictures he had taken of Matthew. He would be able to live without them, considering he had a new…friend now.

* * *

**Gilbert has good intentions, really, he just has a bad way of going about it. Anyway, it occurred to me that I had yet to do a song-based one-shot yet in this fic, so I threw away my first two ideas for this challenge, which were fishing and prison, to be based on the song Paparazzi by Lady Gaga. Loosely based, but still based nonetheless. Anyway, I got a lot of plot in this one and I really do like it. Gilbert's not one of the bad stalkers anyway, he only helped Matthew…Yeah…don't stalk people, kids.**

**Please review!**

**And join me tomorrow for the LAST challenge, Doing Something Hot, titled "Three Strikes". (Just so we're clear here, I don't do lemon, so this will be a lime, at most. A very fanservicey lime.)**


	30. Three Strikes

Day 30 Challenge: Doing Something Hot

Title: "Three Strikes"

Enjoy!

* * *

The touches were electric. Their skin felt like it was on fire. Prussia didn't give a damn about air as long as his lips could stay locked on Canada's. They'd managed to clumsily make it up the stairs, clattering quite a few picture frames to the ground, and into Canada's bedroom, one Prussia knew all too well. He pushed Canada back, onto the mattress and the nation gasped slightly into the kiss, but that didn't stop anything. Prussia quickly straddled the smaller nation, hands now moving from his head to explore the rest of his body, something else Prussia knew all too well.

Canada moved into his touches, Prussia's fingers sometimes ghosting gently, sometimes digging roughly. Canada acted quickly to remove Prussia's shirt, hardly breaking the kiss for more than a second. Prussia followed his example, not even caring that Canada had been wearing a button-up shirt as he pulled it off the nation. Next was the pants, that offending layer that, in Prussia's opinion, should always be banned. Prussia's mouth finally left Canada's to move to the nation's neck while he fumbled with the button of Canada's pants, leaving kisses and hickeys in his wake. Gilbert smirked every time Canada moaned or gasped his "problem downstairs" getting worse as time went on. Damn, he wanted those pants off now.

And then everything froze. The door of the bedroom that had been closed merely out of habit was slammed open and Prussia and Canada stopped, frozen in place.

"Aw, dude, are you fucking serious right now?" America groaned from the doorway.

"America?" Canada sat upright, his face even more red than Prussia's eyes. "How did you get into my house?"

"Not important," America shrugged. "But you may want a new front door sometime soon. Anyway, that's really not important. We're supposed to be at a meeting with our bosses in, like, 30 minutes, dude! And you say I'm the irresponsible one…"

"You broke down…" Canada mumbled and Prussia was at a loss, in all honesty. Canada's house was pretty far out of the way, which meant that if they left at that second, they would run late to the meeting, even with America's speeding.

"Fuck," Prussia fully moved off of Canada. He would have to deal with his problem alone, then. This happened way more than his liking in all honesty.

"Just…gimme a minute, okay?" Canada sighed as he fully sat up, giving an apologetic look to Prussia.

"Something tells me you need more than a minute!" America said in a sing-song voice before darting away.

"I'm so sorry," Canada shook his head, massaging his temples.

"It's cool," Prussia lied, shrugging. "You gotta deal with your nation shit, I understand. We can just…uh…pick up later?"

"I promise," Canada chuckled, giving him a quick peck. "I'm really, very sorry," Canada mumbled as he picked up his shirt and winced upon seeing his own problem. "Oh, God, I don't know what I should do about that. I don't have the time to…"

"Eh, let your boss be surprised with how big you actually are, no big issue," Prussia shrugged. In all honesty, he'd been a little surprised as well upon seeing Canada's actual size. Canada blushed at his comment, but a shout from America telling him to hurry made him quickly put his shirt back on, attempting to take wrinkles out as quickly as he could. "Bosses get it, we're all sexually frustrated after being alive for so long. Hell, Fritz even caught me a few times, that was fucking great!"

"I'm sorry, again," Canada mumbled. "I'll be back in a few hours, I swear."

"I'll be here," Prussia sighed, but plastered a fake smile on his face to make the Canadian feel better. This was a boss meeting, Canada couldn't say no, it wasn't completely his fault. "Good luck, kid."

"Thanks," Canada sighed and darted out the door. Prussia groaned and fell back on the bed, glaring at the ceiling. What a tough fucking break, huh?

* * *

Canada really hadn't come back for quite a few hours, Prussia had already fallen asleep by the time he got back. And then Canada was too tired in the morning (very similar to his brother in waking up in the mornings) and so, a few hours after lunch, while they were watching TV, they shared a single glance with each other.

Immediately, Prussia lunged at Canada, capturing those perfect lips in a kiss. At this point, Prussia was far too impatient to move up to the bedroom and Canada complied easily. The touches were even more electric than the day before and Canada gasped, arching his back when Prussia ran his hand over that one spot on his back. Prussia smirked into the sloppy, yet absolutely fucking perfect kiss. This time, Prussia didn't want to waste a second and hastily started to undo the buttons on Canada's pants while Canada did the same to him. Prussia's lips went to the hickey's he'd left the day before that he was sure Canada had a hell of a time explaining to his boss and expertly moved his tongue over them. Canada mewled and his fingers failed to grasp the button on Prussia's pants.

And then the Canadian anthem started to play, Canada's phone vibrating with it on the coffee table in front of them. Prussia stopped what he was doing as both nations turned to look at it, Prussia glaring at it in hopes that it would explode.

"I-I can just…ignore it…" Canada panted. "Can you?"

"It's an awesome anthem anyway," Prussia smirked and they continued, the anthem continuing to blare around them. As Prussia finally unbuttoned Canada's pants and began to pull them down, it finally stopped. After just another second, the anthem started playing again. Canada scoffed.

"It's probably just my brother," Canada sighed and captured Prussia's lips in a kiss once again. Prussia's focus immediately switched from the phone to admiring the fucking _skill_ Canada held whenever he led something like this. He had been raised by France after all, so if he wasn't damn good at this sort of thing, he'd be considered a disappointment. Prussia groaned, struggling to stay focused as Canada's skilled tongue set to work. The Canadian anthem stopped and started again, but the two didn't pay it any mind. It stopped again, this time for good.

Prussia's attention switched once again back to pulling down Canada's pants, and was about to get to work when the shrill ringing of the house phone sounded out through the house.

"That's not America," Canada mumbled. "The only people that know the number to the house phone are people in the government."

"Right," Prussia sighed and sat upright to allow Canada to get up.

"I'm sorry," Canada apologized. "I'm sure it's nothing, I'll be back in a second."

"Sure, it's fine," Prussia leaned back into the couch as Canada quickly composed himself before answering the phone, apologizing to whoever it was and coming up with a lame excuse about how his cell phone was in another room. Canada tried to make the conversation quick, Prussia would give him that, but the person decided that now was a perfect time to talk about important government matters.

It was past time for dinner when Canada finally hung up with a long sigh.

"I am so, so sorry," Canada mumbled as Prussia shrugged half-heartedly, watching some game show on TV.

"Yeah, it's whatever," Prussia shrugged again, sighing as some chick lost a million and got a thousand instead.

"This is the second day in a row, I'm really sorry," Canada sighed.

"Oi, don't worry about it," Prussia said and gently pulled the Canadian onto the couch, right next to him. "You're a country, you have shit to do, I understand."

"I swear, tomorrow, I'll be completely free," Canada promised.

"Yeah, the mood's kinda ruined now anyway," Prussia shrugged with a small smirk, wrapping an arm around Canada and pulling him closer. "Won't stop me from cuddling, though."

"Oh, yes, the big, bad Prussia of everyone's nightmares loves to cuddle," Canada snickered. "Tomorrow, I swear."

* * *

The next day, Prussia was honestly feeling a little under the weather, but he wasn't about to let that stop him from finally pouncing on his Canadian. _God_, he wanted him so bad. But he waited patiently for Canada to be in a good mood, which meant waiting through the morning and then through lunch. And, finally, they managed to clumsily make it to Canada's bedroom again. Roving, sexually frustrated hands moved much more fervently than before. The kisses were more sloppy, shirts were off in a matter of seconds. Canada definitely wanted this just as badly as well.

Prussia smirked as his lips kissed just the right places down the Canadian's chest and even further south, where he was having problems getting through the damn pants. Canada definitely knew what was happening that day, he should have worn fucking sweats, he was just making this hard on Prussia. He swiftly moved back to Canada's face, enjoying another passionate kiss as he finally got the button. Canada easily and expertly took care of Prussia's and the Prussian growled, swiftly moving the Canadian's pants down.

And then it happened. Prussia felt it coming, but he couldn't stop it. He sneezed, right into Canada's face. They both stopped, Canada blinking, and Prussia pulled back.

"Oh, my _God_!" Prussia shouted.

"Yeah…it's a bit of a mood killer," Canada laughed slightly.

"Are you serious?" Prussia growled and sneezed once again and this time a cough followed shortly after. "I'm the fucking…" another cough "Kingdom of Prussia and I get a fucking cold during fucking sex? Verdammt!"

"It's fine," Canada smiled as they both sat upright. "Really."

"No, it's fucking not fine!" Prussia groaned. "I sneezed into your fucking face." Another sneeze and Prussia cursed at himself again.

"Well, you have been overexerting yourself the last few days," Canada mumbled. "Anyone can get a cold. Maybe you should rest."

"You know what would help me rest pretty well?" Prussia smirked, but growled as he let out a string of coughs.

"No," Canada shook his head. "You shouldn't exert yourself while you have a cold." Prussia groaned and fell backwards onto the bed. "We can pick up as soon as you feel better."

"I feel fine!" Prussia assured him, and sneezed again. Canada sighed, shaking his head as he got up. "Okay, if I'm not supposed to exert myself, what the hell should I do about my awesome five meters?!"

Canada snorted. "Five meters my ass…"

"That's exactly what I want to do!" Prussia complained.

"I'll be back," Canada sighed, "in a little bit. I'm really sorry, but you should focus more on getting better and less about sex."

"I wouldn't be focusing on it so much if we hadn't been interrupted three times now…" Prussia grumbled. "Your brother's an ass, your boss is an ass, this fucking cold is an ass."

"Relax," Canada sighed. Prussia sneezed again and coughed several times after that. "I'll go get you some meds."

"I hate my life," Prussia groaned.

* * *

Three long days. Three excruciating days. Three days where all Prussia wanted to do was pounce on Canada, but the Canadian finally showed his true strength as a nation and kept him down. Finally, on the third day, at night, Canada was taking Prussia's temperature again.

"Really, I feel fine, I swear," Prussia tried, standing in front of the Canadian in the bedroom, staring at the Canadian intently as he read the temperature. "Well? What the hell is it?"

"Trust me," Canada chuckled, shaking his head, "this has been hard on me, too." And then Canada jumped on him, almost literally, too. He pulled Prussia into a forcefully, needy kiss and they both toppled onto the bed, Canada on top of Prussia, a position they didn't try often, but Prussia didn't care. The kiss alone was more than enough to turn Prussia on as the two ignored their need for air a lot more than they should have, both getting extremely light headed.

"What was it?" Prussia asked curiously through the kiss. He didn't fucking care about Canada's shirt anymore, ripping it open. Canada followed his example, shaking nails scraping against skin, but Prussia didn't care, in fact he arched into it slightly. He'd been craving this skin contact for _days_ and every little touch felt like enough to send him over the edge.

"37.7 C," Canada panted, his hot breath on Prussia's face.

Prussia gripped onto Canada's shoulders triumphantly and turned them over so he was on top of Canada, straddling him as fingers and lips roved around him freely and needy, desperately wanting more. Prussia paused as he reached Canada's pants, the Canadian bucking slightly with impatience.

"Brother?"

"In another country, I checked," Canada groaned impatiently and Prussia smirked, letting his fingers and breath ghost in that area for a while.

"Phone?"

"Cell phone's off, and I disconnected the landline."

"How you feeling?"

"Fit as a fiddle," Canada bucked again, this time letting his hardened length get touched by Prussia's hands.

"Never say that again," Prussia shook his head and all but tore of Canada's pants, quickly going to his own and wasting no time. It was well worth the wait.

* * *

**Remember, I said no lemon. But I got hella close, huh? Originally, I wanted to do a pun, like they were feeling horrible in a hot day together, but I decided to be nice instead. And torture Prussia and Canada. I got this idea and loved it from the start, just thinking about it for these past 30 days and I finally got it out. It was hilarious, eh? Don't worry, those two lived happily ever after, fucking until they puked rainbows. This is definitely not their only time to do it.**

**Anyway, I did it! I'm awesome and I successfully finished the 30 Day Challenge! Now I'm off to do something with plot, a story titled "Newsworthy" that is a PruCan with a side of RusAme, if that interests you at all. I will see you there, whenever I happen to start publishing it.**

**Anyway, please review! It's very kind!**

**I do not and never will own Hetalia.**


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